The Tempest
by Hikaru8
Summary: "When the Silence comes the world will end." Alis has lived on Earth for eight years in hiding, her abilities kept secret. But as Loki brings a storm to Earth that will mean destruction for all, she must join the Avengers if she is to save it.
1. Chapter 1

Pepper Potts opened her eyes to see the sun rising over the New Mexico desert. Fingers of the new day's sun stretched out in colours of burnt orange and brilliant yellow illuminating the harsh barren land. The desert was such an even, flat expanse it was easy to believe that it went all the way to the horizon, that if you followed it you really would reach the end of the earth. Maybe there was some truth in Tony's "Land of Enchantment" jibe at the southern state.

Pepper had always been too intelligent to entertain fantasies for long though. Knowing that another very long day of work was soon to start she closed her eyes for a few more minutes of peace and snuggled up to person next to her.

'He's wearing the aftershave I bought for his birthday,' she thought with a tickle of happiness in her tummy.

"OH MY GOD!"

"What!" Tony Stark woke with a jolt and frantically wondered what he had done to cause the panic.

"Who's driving the car!" The last thing Pepper remembered before dozing off last night was the back of Tony's head as he sat in the driver's seat in front of her.

"Good morning," an unfamiliar voice said cheerfully.

Pepper looked up to see someone smiling at her from the driver's seat but she only got a quick glimpse of the large blue eyes set in a heart shaped face before the driver focused her attention back on the road.

Looking at her Pepper was reminded of the tiny ballerina that had adorned her jewellery box as a child. She was a petite thing of maybe fifty kilos and was keeping her chin high to see the road ahead because she wasn't tall enough to see over the wheel sitting comfortably.

Her smooth hair was nearly brown at the roots then lightened to a creamy gold colour at the tip where it curled. She had it bunched in a pony tail to one side so her hair fell over her shoulder in a gentle cascade and Pepper could tell from her tan that she had been living under the desert sun for a reasonable time. Across her back the words, "How Can I Help You," were emblazoned on a bright purple vest.

"You picked up this stranger?" she accused Tony more than asked.

"My name is Alis," The driver interjected before the accused could defend himself.

"And let her drive?" Pepper hit Tony on the arm with her Ipad then redirected her anger towards the driver. "And what were you doing out on the road so late at night? Do you know how many people are killed each year hitch hiking?"

"I wasn't hitch hiking," the girl called Alis defended herself. "I missed the last bus back to town for the night so I was napping at the bus station when he came up and said 'Hey kid how would you like to make a hundred bucks?'"

"And you agreed?"

"Yeah."

"He," Pepper jammed her finger in Tony's face, "could be anyone! He might be a dangerous sicko for all you know!"

"I'm starting to feel this is getting a little personal here," Tony spoke up. He had tried to be responsible by admitting he was too tired to drive and asked another to step in. This way they were still on schedule, properly rejuvenated and ready for his next round of banter with Fury. And all it had cost him so far was a hundred bucks.

"Nope he's good. I can tell."

Tony crossed his arms with smug satisfaction and flashed Pepper one of his best smiles. Pepper rubbed her temples and wondered what America coming it if teenagers had to hitch hike through the desert in the middle of the night.

"I'm twenty three, not a teenager," Alis corrected and saw Pepper give her a quizzical look in the rear vision mirror.

"Which is why I can hitch hike," she added quickly to cover her blunder.

In nearly ten years of listening to people's thoughts she still got muddled with what people said with their mouths and what they said with their minds.

Pepper decided she was too tired and stressed to worry about that oddity and flopped back in the seat. Beside her Tony was trying his best not to show how entertained he was. From now on he was going to pick up more hitch hikers.

Alis relaxed and blessed the simplicity of the human mind. Whatever it could not immediately comprehend it either ignored or provided a weak solution so it could forget easier. The rare people who did stop to ponder her quirk were dangerous, most of the time they wanted to indentify her ability to persecute. Or exploit.

Pepper flicked on her Ipad to see there was still a couple of battery bars left and got to work. Happy had been all set to fly with them to New Mexico then drive to the SHIELD base to get their work underway with Dr Foster when Pepper had gotten a call from the hospital saying that their chauffer had been admitted with a case of acute appendicitis.

Having no time to reschedule she and Tony had flown to the nearest air strip then drive the rest of the way to the remote town in a rental. Now that they were closing in on civilization her computer was picking up enough internet signal to make some proper arrangements.

"Do you want to send fruit or bagels with the flowers?" she asked Tony as she filled out a gift delivery application.

"How about scotch and steak?" Tony suggested.

"Muffins."

"Pardon?" Tony asked the girl driving.

"Send muffins with the flowers," Alis explained and took the turn off for the town. "Muffins have a touch of tenderness to them bagels just can't provide."

"Is that written in the Walmart handbook?" Tony asked with a spurious but entertained expression.

"No," Alis replied unoffended. "My other job is as a waitress at Izzy's diner. Certain moods need to be accompanied by the right foods. A cup of coffee and muffin are perfect for bringing someone out of a low mood and your friend will be feeling pretty miserable after his operation."

"How did you know that?" Pepper asked suspiciously. That was twice now in matter of minutes the stranger had known something without being told.

"Mr Stark said so last night," Alis answered quickly and parked the car in the fuel bay of the petrol station.

"I did?" Tony asked and tried to remember.

"Yeah, you did," she affirmed and Tony shrugged. He probably had and just couldn't remember right now. He had been pretty tired when he'd pulled up at the bus station for a cup of crappy machine coffee.

All three exited the car and stretched. The sun was now higher in the sky but hadn't yet warmed the morning air. Pepper got her jacket off the back seat and performed the usual round of pleasantries with Alis: a hand shake, a thank you and a business card.

Alis put the card and the promised hundred in her wallet and waved goodbye to her travelling companions. She heard Pepper wondering how long it would be before she read the story of this trip in a trashy tabloid magazine willing to pay a silly girl well for a worthless story but Alis didn't turn back. She reminded herself that everyone was allowed their own thoughts however incorrect and she should pretend that they went unheard.

Across town Jane Foster had hardly noticed that a new day had started at her laboratory. She and her fickle but faithful assistant had been working fifteen hours straight on a mathematical complication that was holding up her project.

In the waste bin beside her there was a pile of tissues a foot high stained with whiteboard marker that she had rubbed off furiously then started again. The board was full of numbers and letters and diagrams that didn't make any intelligible sense but Jane didn't stop to make it coherent.

The marker stopped suddenly and she tried to hold her line of thought. It had all been going so well, everything linked together but when she factored in…

The marker fell to the floor with a clatter and Jane pounded her head against the board three times before letting it rest there in defeat. There was no way she would get this right before their meeting with Tony Stark tomorrow.

"Are we taking a break?" Darcy asked.

Jane groaned.

"We're taking a break," Darcy concluded and dumped the books she'd been holding on the table before pulling out a chair. She dropped into it with an exhausted sigh and decided she had liked it better when the scientific community considered Jane a dreamer. They hadn't ever had to pull all nighters before her theories were vindicated.

"Morning scientists," Alis sang as she walked through the door with a cheery smile. Darcy opened her weary eyes to see her best friend and perked up immediately.

"Please tell me you only just got home now because you spent all night with a really hot guy you just picked up," Darcy begged excitedly.

"Sorry no," she admitted and Darcy's enthusiasm deflated. "Walmart isn't exactly a hot spot for dashing bachelors. I missed my bus last night and just got in now. Coffee, newspaper."

Alis put the gifts on the table and Darcy scooped up the cup marked with sugar and milk. Alis took the other out of the cardboard holder to give to Jane but found the scientist with her head still on the board.

"What's the matter with Jane?" she whispered to her friend.

"We're taking a break," Darcy replied and flicked through the paper to the cartoons. In the six months since the Avengers incident in New York the papers had finally returned to reporting the latest tax budget and fuel prices.

As she stepped closer to Jane Alis could feel the frustration and defeated ambition oozing out of her but she didn't heed it. She slipped her arm around Jane's neck and pulled her back into a causal embrace.

"He's coming back Jane," she said softly and held up the hot cup. "It will just take time."

Jane turned her neck to look at Alis with a small frown. Up close Alis could see the fatigue lines and heavy bags under her eyelids.

"Has Darcy been telling you my personal business again?" she asked with irritation.

"No I just pick up on stuff," Alis said with total honesty and held the offered coffee up higher.

There was no denying that statement was true. Jane had been a little unnerved by Alis when she had first arrived with Darcy two years ago. In a matter of days she had already memorized where all the crockery went, Jane's weekly routine and the names of all the townspeople she dealt with regularly.

For a while Jane wondered if Alis took an unhealthy interest in her life but that concern was soon dashed when Alis's natural compassion and friendly demeanor won her over. Jane put her unsettling knack for knowing things down to astute observation and stopped worrying.

The two held a look for a moment longer before Jane sighed and took the coffee with a strained but grateful smile. Alis left her arm around Jane's shoulders and gently guided her to the table and sat her down.

"I think you could do with a long shower and a day off," Alis said as she rubbed the tight muscles around Jane's neck.

"I agree," piped up Darcy.

"No day off!" Jane groaned from behind the hair that had fallen over her face. She could swear that Alis' hands worked miracles.

With the smallest touch pain seemed to run out of her shoulders replacing fatigue and tension with a warm feeling of euphoria. A second later Alis stopped rubbing and Jane was left with a small but rising sense of optimism.

"I'll leave you two to settle it," Alis learned long ago not to come between employer and employee. "I'm going home for a kip and a shower before my shift at Izzy's. Oh, and I picked up another shift at Walmart for tonight so don't expect be back until late."

Now both women wore disapproving looks and both were aimed at her.

"Isn't it about time they put you on the day roster?" Jane asked with irritation.

"Yeah you've been on close for like six months now," Darcy added.

Alis felt the well intended concern and indignation coming from the both of them and she had to smile. It was nice to have someone give a damn when you were being worked to death for minimum wage.

"It seems the only way I'll get on days is if I have two kids that need to be picked up from school or get more intimate with my manager. And I don't see either happening." Alis spoke the reality with a smile to pacify her friends. Life had taught her long ago that to live was to struggle but sometimes Darcy and Jane needed a reminder.

"Well we'll have dinner ready when you get back," Jane said. It was as if Alis' hands had banished her bad mood and left her feeling ready to take on anything.

"We'll try making those bean burgers you cooked last week," Darcy supported the suggestion.

Alis had scrubbed enough scorched pans and put out enough fires to leave her dubious of the pair's cooking abilities but she wasn't about to knock a free meal.

"Ok see you then," she said happily and left the lab to swap her vest for an apron.

Later that night she was back in the ugly vest. Only three customers had screamed at her and the diner had finally gotten its new dishwasher so all up it hadn't been too bad a day of unskilled labour. The bus came to a halt outside the gas station and she said a polite goodnight to the driver before hopping down the stairs.

Suddenly the rubber soul of her shoe slipped sideways and she caught herself on her hands a second before landing face down.

"You ok?" the driver called from his seat.

"Yeah," Alis sprang up. "Just slipped."

Alis had slipped and that had her worried. She was nimble by nature so she was not prone to falling without cause. The bus pulled out and she checked her hands for any scrapes in the dying red glow of its tail lights. Her hands were undamaged but they were cold.

Very carefully Alis crouched down and touched the asphalt with an open hand. The ground was unnaturally cold for bitumen that had soaked up the New Mexico sun all day and she peered closer. Dragging her finger lightly along the ground a small layer of icicles collected under her nail and sent a shiver up her arm.

'This isn't right,' she thought and slowly rose to full height. Rain was rare in this part of the desert and snow even more uncommon. Impossible in fact.

Alis took a look around the main drag with her large eyes and listened hard. There was the hum of the florescent lights in the service station behind her, a car several blocks away screeched as it braked too quickly and a cat ran out of a rubbish bin towards an apartment block in search of better food.

Nothing out the normal.

Alis let out the breath she was holding and it formed a cloud in the cold air. Looking up she couldn't make out a single star for the heavy cloud cover. Jane and Darcy were always driving into the desert to study freak storms and strange lights in the night sky but this weather didn't sit right with Alis.

'_If something is not right leave. Fast.'_

Thinking of those two and the dinner they had promised snapped Alis out of her thoughts and she very carefully walked to the laboratory. She loved her bright red converse shoes down to their non-animal product lining but she had to admit that they did not grip well in icy conditions.

As she got closer she saw her friends hunched over a desk working and some of the eerie feeling she'd been carrying on her walk lifted.

"How'd the bean burgers go?" she asked as she came through the office doors.

Jane and Darcy looked up from their work station to share a worried look.

"Well…"

"Umm…"

"We got you noodles," Darcy sidestepped the question and held out a box of take out noodles like a peace offering.

Alis sighed running a hand through her messy hair and found it damp. 'Is it really that cold out?' she wondered with a frown and rubbed the moisture between her fingers.

"We really did try," Darcy's defense almost sounded like pleading as she took that expression to be disappointment. "We soaked the beans for ages and mashed them up like you did last time but they wouldn't stick together. So we went to put them down the dispenser and now the dispenser is clogged so we then-"

"Noodles are great, thank you so much," Alis took the box with enough enthusiasm to stop Darcy's panic. "I'll get to work on the sink."

Alis smelled the noodles on her way to the kitchen and was dismayed to find that they were soaked in oyster sauce. Part of the reason she was in charge of cooking duties was because Darcy had trouble remembering the finer details of vegetarianism. Refusing to let her disappointment cancel out the goodness of her friend's gesture Alis very quietly pulled two slices off the bread loaf and plugged the kettle in. She would be extra noisy plunging the sink to cover throwing the noodles in the bin.

At their desk Darcy and Jane flicked back and forth between two computer monitors, one displayed their storm readings and the other the National Meteorology website. They had been refreshing the webpage every five minutes for the past two hours but still nothing matched up to what they were detecting on their scanners.

"The temperature is still falling," Darcy ran her finger along the red line crashing to the bottom of the screen. "And the experts are still saying we should be at a steady twelve degrees."

"This makes no sense," Jane sounded flustered as she double checked that their equipment was working properly.

"Are we going to take the truck out?" Darcy asked sounding like she really didn't want to.

"Maybe," Jane thought for a moment then shook her head. "No, we've still got everything packed up in there."

The truck had been packed for nearly three months now. With SHIELD's help the blue print of Jane's device had grown from a drawing to a reality. However it was still waiting to be tested.

Every time SHIELD got in touch about running a simulation she always found a reason to stall. The first time she said she wanted to go over the mathematic formulas again before turning it on. The second time she said she wanted to modify the device further. The third time she blamed the weather for not meeting the requirements of their testing.

They were all excuses though. What was really holding the project back was Jane's consuming self doubt. She was positive her math was right-it always was-but she was rendered inert by the terrifying possibility that somehow their attempt to recreate the bi-frost would cause something irreversibly catastrophic and destroy her chances of ever seeing Thor again.

For months she'd felt spilt in two. One part of her wanted to push forward and bridge the worlds and usher in a new chapter of science. The other part was terrified that their plan would fail and she would have to resign herself to a limited life of scratching together sums and dreaming of the stars. Whenever she opened her e-mail to find a message from the SHIELD scientists her stomach knotted.

"Don't shake the table," Darcy said without looking up from the computer.

"What?" Jane said absently and looked at her assistant.

"You're shaking the table," Darcy accused and steadied the monitor that was slowly rattling across the desk.

"I'm not touching it," Jane held up both her hands to prove her innocence and the whole table jerked violently.

Both women stopped and looked at one another, each hoping the other would offer an explanation. Suddenly the desk fell backwards scattering their equipment and Darcy leaped out of her seat with a squeal. The whole building had started shaking around them and they grabbed a hold of each other to steady themselves.

"Where's it coming from?" Darcy yelled over the rumbling and looked at the floor as if she expected something to rip through the ground beneath them.

"I don't know!" Jane yelled back and looked around the office for something that could explain it.

"Look!" Darcy tugged Jane's arm and pointed to the glass doors that enclosed their building.

Being so engrossed in their work neither had noticed that the glass had frosted over blinding them to the outside world. The temperature must have gone below freezing in a matter of minutes.

"How did…"

Jane's question was cut off by a deafening boom and the door missed her by only a meter as the entire front of the building blew away. She threw her arms around Darcy protectively and looked up to see what stood before them.

It was the size of a rhino and the colour of sapphire. A man of some kind, or at least she through it a man with its body structure and almost human face twisted into an aggressive expression. Its tiny red eyes flicked around the room before settling on the women. It let out a heavy puff of air like a bull ready to charge and flexed its fingers, knuckles cracking like melting ice.

Jane wasn't sure if it was Darcy or her screaming then as the monster lumbered towards them with its ground shaking strides. She knew to run but disbelief had rooted the both of them to the spot.

A hand reached out to grab them when something whooshed through the air.

The kettle flew up in a high arc before hitting the creature in the face. The impact popped the lid open and the boiling water sprayed all over the blue mountain. There was sizzling sound and the creature grabbed its face and bellowed as its skin burned away.

"Run!" Alis roared from behind them and pushed her friends as hard as she could towards the gaping hole the giant had torn in the building.

The physical encouragement made the two of them sprint to safety with Alis keeping a close tail.

"Get to the truck!" Alis ordered as the giant roared in agony and stomped around blindly, knocking over furniture and crushing computers beneath its feet.

"What is that thing?" Jane screamed hysterically as she jumped into the driver's seat of her truck and fumbled in her jacket for the keys. It was hard to make her hands stop shaking long enough to get the key in the ignition. Nothing was making sense, this wasn't real was it?

"Frost Giant!" Alis puffed. "Get out of here and call for help! You'll have to turn this machine of yours on!"

"How do you know-"

"NOT NOW JANE!" Alis roared over the giant's pained howls. This was not a good time to explain that she had been playing dumb about SHIELD, the bi-frost and gods visiting the earth. One bane of telepathy was that nothing could stay secret for too long.

"Alis get in!" Darcy screamed from the passenger seat. She was clutching the dashboard so hard her nails were leaving marks in the plastic and all colour had drained from her face.

Alis looked inside her head and saw she was verging on complete hysteria. Darcy couldn't understand how one minute life had been totally normal and next she was running from a creature that belonged in fairy tales. That thing wanted to kill her and she didn't want to die, she wanted to live longer and do more, see more, have more. She couldn't die now, why was this happening? She had to run, escape, drive Jane, Alis, go, go, GO!

"Go!" Alis said to Jane and thumped the truck door to empower her order.

"Get in!" Darcy screamed.

"Come on!" Jane opened the door to pull Alis in but she was already backing away with her eyes fixed on the Frost Giant looking for the one who'd burned him.

Darcy's thoughts told Alis that she was reaching melting point and was impossible to rely on now. Without help Jane's device would take hours to set up so she would have to reach the SHIELD base if there was any hope of turning it on. Chances were that the agents there were already mobilizing troops for combat but Alis knew the odds of stopping the Frost Giants without help from the other worlds were not favorable.

Not that she really expected help from the other worlds. They had done nothing last time.

"JANE GO NOW!" she screamed and waved her arms at the injured beast. "COME AND GET ME!"

With its clouded vision the Frost Giant made out the figure taunting him and charged towards it. Alis turned and darted into the night like a rabbit racing to its burrow and Jane slammed her foot on the accelerator. The open door flapped wildly as she took the corner too fast and sped into the desert. The tyres spat up chunks of sand that had turned slushy from the snow and they bounded violently in their seats as they crashed over rocks and shrubs.

"Alis," Darcy wailed beside her. "We have to go back for Alis."

Jane looked in the rear view mirror to see only the shrinking light of their laboratory, the Frost Giant and girl gone in the darkness.

"She will be ok," Jane didn't believe the words she pushed out between heavy breaths. "We will get help."

Beside her Darcy started to cry.


	2. Chapter 2

Alis raced through the dark town like a horse in gallop, her feet spending more time in the air than on the ground. Her gifts of night sight and agility aided her to avoid the abandoned cars and building rubble that littered the streets. When she had walked from the bus stop half an hour ago the town had been in a gentle slumber. Now it looked like a war zone with a bomb site in the middle of Main street.

Behind her the road split and shook from the footsteps of the Frost Giant pursuing her. One of its strides were equal to ten of hers and Alis knew her hopes of outrunning it were nearly nil. She vaulted over the bonnet of a crashed Toyota and ordered herself to think through her panic.

'_He's faster and stronger than you,_' she listed the obvious facts first. _'He will kill you and it will be painful. Frost Giants can see in the dark so don't try to hide. They are big and heavy.' _

Alis took a sharp turn into a narrow space that separated two buildings and nearly slipped on the icy ground.

'_Fall and you're dead,'_ was another fact that came to mind.

Alis' slight body slipped through the tiny passage way easily and she heard the Frost Giant slam into the buildings behind her making them shudder from impact. For a moment she thought she had jammed the monster in the crevice and risked a quick glance backwards.

To her dismay she saw the furious Frost Giant widening the gap with its boulder sized hands, rippling wall panels and timber off by dragging its fingers along the walls as it ran.

"Crap!" Alis puffed and jumped just in time to avoid the piece of roof that crashed in front of her.

The Frost Giant was still in pursuit and all Alis had gained by her trick was a few meters.

'_You're faster and smaller,'_ she started to list the facts about herself hoping to find another idea there. _'You're light and acrobatic. You know the town better than it does.'_

With that thought Alis ran for the town post office which she knew to be still under construction. The fifty year old façade of the building had been crumbling slowly for the past decade but recently the town council had found enough funds to allocate to its maintenance.

As she approached Alis felt a pang of hope when she saw that the construction scaffolding was still in place. There was an eruption behind her as the Frost Giant backhanded a car out of its way which diminished the feeling rapidly and she was reminded that it this attempt failed, death was a certainty.

Without a moment's hesitance she launched herself onto the construction frame and climbed. Alis' svelte body conquered the scaffold almost immediately, her hands and feet only resting on the poles for momentarily before she moved to the next one. To a person watching they would have thought she climbed like a squirrel, her footing precise and her movements swift, not hesitating for a second to reconsider her path.

Alis felt the rough stone of the roof on her palm just as the Frost Giant slammed into the scaffolding. The foot she had resting on the top pole dipped slightly as the support went from under it and she let out a small gasp. Her guts lurched then with a burst of desperation she pulled herself to safety.

The structure swayed and groaned as the Frost Giant mounted it and began to climb. Sacrificing a precious second Alis stopped and watched as the monster lumbered upwards, its furious burnt face locked on her as it rose higher and higher. The scaffold held out a second more before it gave a sharp dying scream and fell apart under the unbearable weight of the creature.

The Frost Giant roared as it fell the five stories and hit the ground with a tremendous thud. Alis could just make out the small crater it had caused on impact beneath the mess of scaffold poles and construction equipment.

'_Frost Giants,'_ she thought with slight smugness. _'Quick to act, slow to think.'_

Concentrating hard on the mess below her Alis could sense a faint but clear mental pulse. She wasn't disappointed that the Frost Giant had lived but she wasn't exactly glad it had survived either. It had burst into the laboratory with the clear intention to hurt Jane and Darcy and would have killed her if it had been able to catch her.

Alis decided to analyze her morals later and broke into a run again. The Frost Giant would rouse soon and would not be very forgiving. The roof of the post office was not as frozen as the ground so Alis made better speed as she jumped to the next roof. The small town had been built with the buildings close together so the leap from one to another was not significant and Alis jumped in easy fluid movements.

Soon she reached the end of the street and was forced to climb down but before she did she took a quick look around from her bird's eye location.

The small town was dark with the power out in every building and the lampposts that had not been pulled up by Frost Giants did not shine. It was not the darkness that had her frightened however. Alis had always thought fear or the dark irrational, she considered darkness a friend who could hide and protect you.

It was the silence that worried her.

It would be a natural assumption that if ten foot blue beasts were plundering your home there would be an uproar of terror. You would expect hysteria in the streets and anarchy. But the town was silent as a tomb.

'Where is everyone?' Alis wondered.

The adrenaline that had been pumping through her system was starting to subside and Alis remembered how cold it actually was. She desperately wanted to sit down and rest but she knew that she would not get up again if she did. Also as there was a Frost Giant currently after her blood the best idea would be to keep moving.

Thinking of the creatures from Jotunheim brought a whole other complication to the riddle.

How did they get to Earth in the first place? According to the stories Alis had been told as a child the Frost Giants hadn't travelled to other worlds in centuries, not since the King of Asguard had taken the Casket of Eternal Winters from them.

Also, the conditions of the worlds they plundered had to be cold enough for the Frost Giants to survive in which New Mexico definitely was not. Apparently they could live a short time away from their frosty home but they were essentially fish out of water. When the desert sun rose they would burn under it.

'So they're on a tight schedule,' Alis surmised and looked at her watch. There was only about five good hours of night left but Alis wasn't sure if that was comforting or concerning. There was no way to know unless she figured out what was going on.

The sensible thing to do would be to find a place to hide until sunrise. That would almost guarantee her survival.

But the silence scared her.

There were two possibilities that seemed most likely to explain it. Either everyone was dead, or they had all been taken somewhere. Alis wasn't sure which was more probable, yes the Frost Giants were famed for decimating their opponents in battle but they had no quarrel with humans. So that meant they had come with a purpose, to take something they needed.

'But what?' Alis had to admit she was stumped there. The local area's staple resource was tin mining and she couldn't see life forms travelling across galaxies to steal tin. Gold, water or oil maybe but not something with such limited use and value.

Across town a strange glow caught her attention. In the pitch darkness the eerie blue light shone out like a beacon, sending a straight line into the heavens. Alis followed the light upwards to see it disappear into the purple storm clouds swirling in the night sky.

Alis had never seen clouds like these in any of her travels. They were heavy and dark purple like the feathers on a peacock and would flash brightly then fade repeatedly like there was lightning trapped inside. Swirling in the night sky ominously like a restless beast pacing its cage waiting for a chance to escape.

Alis didn't think it was possible to feel any more uneasy but the purple clouds were scaring her more than the blue monsters. There was something in the back of her mind that stirred when she looked at them, like she was meant to remember something very important but couldn't pin it. Maybe it was something she overheard Jane talking about once.

Thinking of Jane and her flight to the SHIELD complex distracted Alis from the weather. There was no telling how long it would take for the machine to turn on, if it worked at all, and by then it might be too late for the townspeople. Alis didn't entertain the idea that she could save anybody but she could maybe stall for time.

Very carefully she climbed down the fire escape and made her way across town, keeping to the shadows and watching for any sign of movement. Alis moved through the dark soundlessly, fast enough to reach her destination but slow enough to catch any sign of danger. When she had learned to walk she had learned to do it silently so this was almost going back to her original nature.

She had known which direction to head in by the alien light but she was sure her target was close when the voices started. Inside her head there was a flurry of thoughts that belonged to humans. Very scared humans.

If Alis had the time to stop and focus she could have picked the thoughts from the people she knew from the strangers but the situation did not allow time to focus her talents. Gritting her teeth together she scurried closer and tried to block out the mind waves.

Two blocks later Alis peeked out from behind a letter box to see the missing townspeople. The lights of the nearby supermarket were still on which made her certain that the Frost Giants were using this place as their base but what was causing her stomach to churn was what they had done to the people.

In the near carpark there were hundreds of people sitting on the cold ground in ordered rows all silent and submissive. Alis could see two Frost Giants towering above their captured, one pacing the rows methodically looking for any hint of disobedience while the other stood beside a blue block generating the light.

'_Bingo,'_ Alis thought and pulled her head back behind the mail box. The Casket was in the Frost Giant's possession and they were using it to create a temporary ice land. That was one part of the puzzle solved.

There was murmur in the crowd and Alis froze in position, not even breathing. A few seconds passed and when assured that her location hadn't been discovered she braved another peek around the post box.

A third Frost Giant had arrived herding a small group of new prisoners. Alis watched as the guard lifted the casket then turned it on each human, encasing their hands in manacles of ice before pushing them into line with the others. The interaction between the three giants before the newcomer departed was short but Alis took the moment's distraction to spring from her shelter to the car parked closest to her. She skillfully slipped under it and waited to see if she had been discovered. Minutes dragged past and when she wasn't pulled out by a Frost Giant she relaxed some.

There was not enough light coming from the supermarket to make out the individuals' faces but Alis' telepathy enabled her to sort through their minds for clues. The sheer panic and disbelief emanating from the crowd was bashing against her skull like a baseball bat and she had to push that away to make out more specific thoughts.

'_What the hell is going on? What are these things?' _

'_Oh my God this is New York all over again! It's aliens and they're gonna kill us!' _

'_Jesus I swear to you I will never have sex again if you get me out of this.' _

'_What do they want? I'll give 'em everything, just let me live.' _

'_Blue bastards if I could get to my truck right now I would take them all with my shotgun.' _

That one was useful.

Alis suppressed all the other thoughts and focused on that particular mind. The effort of it caused a burning pain in the back of her skull and neck but she had to hold it down. Digging inside the man's head she discovered it was Axel Dench who she served very strong coffee to at the diner regularly.

Axel had served in the Middle East in the days of Desert Storm and that had made him the surly, aggressive and emotionally destroyed man he was today. He said very little to anyone and kept to a very strict routine of work, alcohol and sleep. Alis had once gotten a glimpse of Axel's service memories and had regretted it. From then on she always kept her distance and concentrated on the thoughts of other diners when he came in. This had made Axel think that Alis was scared of him but he was fine with that, a lot of people were.

Alis probed through his recent memories and learned that Axel had not been able to sleep tonight, the nightmares had woken him up and the sleeping pills the doctor had prescribed had no effect. So he'd gotten dressed and driven to the all night supermarket to find his usual remedy-a bottle of scotch-and had just parked when the freak purple storm hit and those blue bastards had started rounding people up. He would have dealt with them then if they hadn't of grabbed him so fast. Damn keys were still in his jacket pocket.

An idea came to Alis then and she didn't like it. However she doubted she could think of a better one in the time given and made her move.

She waited until the sentry giant had his gaze focused elsewhere before slithering out from under the car, moving towards Axel in the dark on her stomach like a commando. Her eyes flicking between the two remaining giants the entire time.

When she was in reach she gently rested her hand on Axel's back and sent a single thought into his head.

'_Don't move.' _

Axel's body tensed but a second before he let out a startled cry his military training took over and he kept composure. Hearing someone else's voice in his head was alarming but with all the freaky shit that had been going on tonight he wasn't as concerned about it as he would have been usually.

"Axel it's Alis from the diner." Alis knew it would have been safer to communicate telepathically but that would have freaked Axel out too much and she needed him to stay calm if there was any chance of this bad idea working.

Axel made a gruff noise through his shaggy beard to acknowledge that he had heard.

"I'm going to take your keys and cause a distraction. When I do run for the supermarket and barricade yourselves in. These things are strong but they hate the heat so get your hands on anything hot. Boiling water, fire, whatever you can think of."

Axel nodded his head and Alis slipped her hand into his jacket pocket pulling out a heavy set of keys. Carefully, so not to make them jingle, she sorted through them until she found the one that matched the make of Axel's truck.

"When you hear me, go," she told him and started to crawl backwards to the parked car.

"Always liked you Alis," Axel said as loudly as he dared. "You never took shit from anyone."

Alis didn't stop to thank him for that comment but once she was safely behind the parked car she did think that was an odd way to say good luck. Then she realized that Axel wasn't saying good luck, he was saying good bye. Good bye because he considered her plan suicide.

'_Probably right,'_ she admitted to herself then sprinted for Axel's truck.

She unlocked the back door and quickly located the shotgun under an old sheet, just as she had seen it in Axel's head. The gun was double barreled and almost bigger than she was. Alis then slipped through to the front seat where she found a box of ammunition in the glove box and took a handful of shells. She hated every minute of it as she had a special loathing for violence but the situation left her choiceless.

As she backed out of the truck she noticed a jerry can next to the spare tyre. Lifting it tentatively she could feel it was only half full and taking a cautious whiff after unscrewing the cap she found it stored petrol, not water.

A new idea ran through her head and despite the grimness of her current predicament her spirits lifted fractionally. If she played her cards just right she might get out of this without having to use the gun. A fire would get more attention than a shot in the dark.

She had just found a pack of matches in the first aid kit when a wail rippled through the air. The suddenness of it made her drop the matches and she looked around frantically for the oncoming giant, expecting her cover had been blown. She'd been so focused on getting her diversion ready she had foolishly forgotten to monitor the crowd.

Looking around the truck she saw a woman was standing up and shaking her cuffed hands imploringly at those sitting around her. It was too dark and too far away for Alis to make out her expression but the timbre of her wails told how hysterical she was.

"Please!" she wailed pitifully. "I have to go home! My children are there all alone! I have to go home!"

'_Shut up, shut up,'_ Alis thought desperately. Her stomach was doing knots inside her.

"They must be so scared and I said I would be home soon! Please let me go home!"

The Front Giant that had been monitoring the aisles moved towards her and Alis could perceive the collective feeling of dread rising from crowd. Some were whispering for her to sit and calm down but Alis could tell from her mind that she was beyond rational thought.

The Frost Giant was nearly upon the woman and she turned her appeal to him.

"Please let me get my children, I'll bring them back here but I need to get my babies!"

'_Don't!_' Alis shot the single thought into the woman's head making her turn sharply in her direction. So she never saw it coming.

With a simple swing of its arm the Frost Giant back handed the woman across the head breaking her neck instantly. Her limp body fell forward onto the people behind her and in her head Alis saw the woman's mind go out like a candle, the light extinguished immediately.

Alis gagged at the sudden loss of connection and breathed heavily to maintain control. She wanted to scream but like the imprisoned people she was too terrified to force out the noise. She swallowed hard and felt the horror inside her change to anger.

From the quick glimpse she'd had of the woman's mind she had seen a school aged boy and a toddling girl and the thought of them being made orphans by a senseless brutish act steeled her resolve.

Tearing part of the sheet off ruthlessly she stuffed it into the open jerry can and loaded two shells into the firearm. Then carrying the can in one hand and the gun in the other she marched boldly towards the Frost Giants.

When Alis thought back on this she wondered her stupid she must have looked a girl of her size and build carrying makeshift weapons as she marched brazenly towards opponents that far outmatched her. Something like a cowboy shootout gone wrong. But at that moment she didn't care, she was still thinking about the dead woman's children.

The sentry giant saw her approach and walked towards her, kicking the woman's body as it went. Alis walked with determination keeping her blue eyes locked on the giant's red ones the entire time.

'_Look at me,' _she thought as her anger smothered her fear. _'Know who killed you.'_

When there was only meters between them she knelt suddenly as if in submission then with a deft movement of fingers that the Frost Giant didn't see Alis lit the rag, grabbed the jerry can and swung it high in an over arm throw.

Alis felt the heat on her skin as the blazing petrol roasted the blue mountain and she was suddenly back in the forest running for her life, the world growing smaller and smaller as the ring of fire herded her towards the enemy. The smoke filled her nose and stung her eyes but she had to keep moving, to stop was to die.

Suddenly she was knocked flat by a man fleeing to the supermarket and she was once again in the carpark watching the Frost Giant dance a fiery dance to its death. Seeing the creature stagger without direction and waving its arms in a hopeless attempt to extinguish the flames made her pity it. Then she saw the abandoned body of the dead woman trampled by the human stampede.

_Life for life, death for death_.

The pounding stride of the second Frost Giant coming towards her broke Alis out of her meditation and she jumped to her feet. In the next few seconds she recalled everything she had learned about fire arms at the county show she and Darcy had gone to last Easter.

Legs apart, shoulders strong, piece cocked, aim, right finger on the trigger, deep breath and fire.

Both shells erupted from the barrel and Alis went flying backwards.

'Forgot the recoil,' she thought dazed as she lay on her back looking up at the purple clouds. It was only then she remembered that she had been given a gun loaded with rubber rounds to shoot the paper turkey at the show. She had missed the turkey by a mile.

This time she had hit her target, she could tell by the pained bellows of the Frost Giant but she didn't stay to inspect the damage. Alis was on her feet and running a second later taking a direct line to the Casket.

As she sprinted her right arm flapped behind her loosely like a windsock and she clamped her teeth together to stop the howl of pain trying to escape. The firearm had blown her shoulder out of its socket but Alis didn't pay it any mind despite the agony. She could already feel the old but familiar sensation of hot cruel needles running from her chest to her arm. There was a sickening crunch as her arm pulled itself back into place and the invisible needles inside her sewed together the torn tissue.

Alis let out a deep roar then releasing everything she had felt since her bus had pulled into town. Terror of the Frost Giants, fear for her life, worry for her friends, anger at the death of someone innocent and the fury of having her life unwound by violent invaders who had forced her to kill.

"_I wont let you get away with this."_

With a swing of her left arm she grabbed the handle on the side of the Casket without stopping. The glowing box dragged behind her on the ground making lines in the carpark bitumen.

"_Heavier than I thought,"_ she thought dismally and looked down at the blue box to see it spark and flicker before the light projecting into the clouds disappeared. _"Turned it off at least." _

Dragging the frozen device impeded Alis' speed significantly and she made a few more blocks keeping her eyes open for suitable options when she spotted a crashed car up ahead. She made a bee line for the vehicle then stopped at the rear end.

The Honda has crashed into a lamp post bunching the front of the vehicle up like an accordion and had thrown the boot open. With both hands Alis heaved the Casket of Eternal Winters into it and jumped to pull the door down, pounding it a few times to force the damaged lock to catch.

It struck her then how bizarre it was to have an ancient relic of a distant world locked in a car boot beside a spare tyre and tool kit and she laughed. The laugh felt unnatural in her throat as it had been locked with terror all night and she could feel her knees getting soft.

"_Snap out of it," _she scolded herself harshly. _"You're not out of the woods yet." _

Alis remembered that laughter was a symptom of hysteria and shook the feeling out. She wiped the saliva and snot from her face then started running again, her direction unclear except away from the Frost Giants soon to be hunting her.

Keeping in the shadows as much as she could she ran past the wreckage that had been her town and tried not to look at the dead strewn across the streets and trapped in cars. Alis could tell without stopping that they were all beyond help, when the mind died there was only silence.

Suddenly Alis skidded to a halt.

She was standing before the town records hall in utter amazement but not for the architecture. The doors were wide open and the lights blazing brightly. After lurking in shadows and running through endless dark the light was as stunning to Alis as fire had been to the first men. Looking up she saw all three levels had a light in every window and noticed that the front doors had been opened ordinarily, not ripped off the hinges Frost Giant style.

Alis blinked at the building like a rabbit in the car headlights before intelligence told her to get under cover. She quickly retreated across the street into a smashed storefront and took measure of the situation.

Even with her keen eyesight she couldn't make out any figures in the windows or people in the foyer. Alis then closed her eyes and focused her ability on the building searching for minds.

There was a single Frost Giant in the building that was thinking aggressively and a calm human mind. Alis located the Frost Giant on the second floor but didn't linger to translate its thoughts because the human mind was more concerning. I was calm.

Considering everything that was happening Alis couldn't figure how anyone could be calm. When the apocalypse rains down on your streets you don't behave as if you're at a garden party. She probed deeper and found something stranger.

Humans rarely ever have clear minds. Even when one was completely focused on a single task there are always flashes of memory and other ideas going on in the background. The human brain is sorted into lobes and layers of consciousness that each have their own desire and function, each trying to subvert the other.

This mind was one, every part synced and working together to achieve a single purpose. Something totally unnatural for the species.

Alis concentrated on it and tried digging deeper to find a thought or memory that could explain how this was happening but only met resistance.

She cut the connection and cursed under her breath with frustration. What was going on in the records building was not her concern, her top priority should be hiding until the desert dawn destroyed the invading creatures. But there were still too many pieces of the puzzle missing.

She had stopped the world from turning to ice by stealing the Casket and had liberated the townspeople so her major goals were achieved. Jane and Darcy were far away from this mess so all that needed to be done now was to secure herself a good hiding place.

Alis might have been able to grow old never knowing why the Frost Giants had come to Earth but this abnormal mind had her disturbed. The Frost Giants would turn to ash and disappear in a few hours but this mind spoke of something more sinister.

Against her better judgment Alis left the safety of the store and took a wide semi circle to the records building, keeping clear of the light. She threw herself up onto a sturdy drain pipe and climbed upwards like a field mouse on a corn stalk. The human mind was on the third floor and she had to be cautious not to gain the attention of the Frost Giant on the second.

"You have not delivered what you promised!" the shout came so suddenly Alis nearly lost her grip on the pipe.

She clenched her thighs and fingers around it and waited for what was to follow. Initially she thought she had been shouted at but when her mind computed the words she realized she'd stumbled across a conversation.

"Neither have you," the voice that replied was silky smooth and unnervingly calm. "I instruct you to bring me Thor's woman and you return to tell me you have been foiled by a human girl."

"_Jane!"_ Alis took a sharp breath and felt her heart beat harder. That Frost Giant in the laboratory hadn't just come to take prisoners, the attack had been deliberate.

"You told us that the humans would have no knowledge of our vulnerabilities," the Frost Giant snapped back gruffly.

"They don't," the other sounded like a teacher chiding a petulant child, placid but firm. "Clearly one of them was able to deduce that beings dependant on cold avoid heat. I trust you dealt with her to stop the knowledge from spreading?"

There was a pause before Alis heard the embarrassed reply. "She escaped and stole the Casket."

Alis' heart was still hammering in her chest as she listened. What had her panicking was not the conversation or the fact she had become the town's most wanted but the mind in the room she could not read.

When she had scanned the building she had pinpointed two distinct minds, a Frost Giant and a manipulated human, making certain that there was no one else before moving.

Of all the people and beings that Alis had crossed in her life there had never been a mind she could not hear. Different creatures made different thought patterns and reading them was like reading in different languages but no living mind was ever silent.

Out of everything that had scared her tonight, this scared her the most. Alis had always considered her ability an onus rather than a gift but there was no relief in finally finding a closed mind. Without hearing it she had no advantage, no warning of what their intentions were. She was in danger.

"Then you had better find her and the Casket if you have any hope of ruling Jotunheim," the voice was patronizing but Alis could hear the fury laced in it. "Or the next sunrise will be your last. Now go!"

Alis obeyed the order and shot up the pipe and onto the closest window ledge of the third floor. Every step she took was in defiance of her primal urge to run away as fast as she could but she had committed herself to solving this mystery. Whatever was happening was bigger and more frightening than anything she had imagined previously.

She had been right when she had thought the Frost Giants had come here to take something but now she knew it was Jane and that it wasn't only the ambitions of Frost Giants at work.

Alis clutched the window ledge above her head, spread her feet and slammed her rear end into the window locked behind her. With each thump her heat beat faster thinking she was drawing attention to herself but she did not stop. On the fifth push the latch gave way and Alis let out a startled cry as she fell through the window backwards. She hit the floor, rolled and jumped up to see who was in the room with her.

"Doctor Selvig?"

Alis wouldn't have been more surprised to have found Santa typing furiously away at a computer keyboard.

Erik Selvig was bashing the computer keys like a man possessed with his head almost glued to the monitor displaying all kinds of codes and sums Alis couldn't keep up with. He hadn't even flinched when she had come crashing unceremoniously through the window behind him.

Alis slowly walked around the desk he was sitting at and took a nervous breath in. She hadn't considered that the meddled mind might belong to someone she knew. There hadn't even been a whiff of individuality coming from the brain when she had scanned it.

"Are you all right?" she asked softly trying to keep her voice as level as she could.

When he didn't reply Alis turned the monitor away from him and Selvig's face shot up so suddenly she jumped.

"Not now Alis," he said automatically without a trace of emotion on his face. "I am working on a very important project." He then snatched the monitor out of her grip and resumed typing.

"You know me?" Alis tried to clarify but he gave no answer. "Erik?"

Alis had met Erik Selvig through Darcy when she had become Jane's assistant. She had always seen him as an avuncular figure for Jane and knew he was an extremely smart but somewhat unimaginative scientist. He was always polite to Alis when he visited the girls and took an interest in whatever book she was reading at the time. She could tell by her ability though that Selvig also pitied her because she was a low income worker without education and therefore bound for a very hard limited life.

It was things like that which prevented Alis from having deeper relationships with people. They never considered restricting their opinions in their minds, only in their words.

"Doctor Selvig do you have any idea what is going on outside?" Alis wasn't anxious to linger any longer than she had to.

Now that she knew that Selvig had been pulled into this nefarious plan she couldn't abandon him, she needed to get him out of the building and away from the unknown character safely.

Selvig didn't answer so Alis stepped closer and put her hand on the back of his head. She took a breath, closed her eyes and opened her mind letting it embrace Selvig's.

In his mind she saw a beautiful blue colour smothering everything. When approached it shivered and shone like a living thing but Alis could not interpret a clear thought from it. It was not alive but a kind of energy that was surrounding Selvig's brain making everything outside its purpose seem meaningless.

Alis pushed the blue barrier again carefully moving deeper into it and ignored the light that glowed in warning. It was like plunging your arm into a puddle of mud in search of a dropped item, having to fight the pressure of the thick substance to get to the bottom.

"Alis?"

Her eyes snapped open and she looked directly into Selvig's. They were so bright blue they almost matched hers and she did not recall them ever being that colour before. Where there had been absence before there was now a flicker of recognition and she pushed deeper into his mind.

"Yes Erik," she used his given name hoping to rouse some more consciousness. "It's Alis, you know me."

"Yes," Selvig gave his answers slowly like an amnesiac. "Darcy and Jane."

"That's right," the pain now pounding in her frontal lobe was making it difficult to speak steadily. "We're all friends. You work with Jane and Darcy for SHIELD. You are an astro physicist."

The blue barrier was sparking and tightening as it tried to keep Alis out but she continued to push. She had reactivated Selvig's mind and it was starting to run again like an engine clogged with glue. If she could get the pistons running on their own she might be able to break the spell.

"Yes I am a physicist," he nodded his head slowly but Alis kept her grip on his skull.

"What else?" she encouraged and could see the blue wall starting to wane.

"I am from Sweden, I have two sons."

"What are their names?" Alis had to speak through gritted teeth now.

"Alex and Mikel," he answered and the blue wall fell. The memories of his grown sons had come back to him in a rush generating feelings of love and affection that roared through his brain and smashed through the barrier like water bursting from a dam.

Selvig gasped like a swimmer coming up for air and cradled his head in his hands as Alis dropped to the floor. When the mental wall had crashed it had flung itself at her like glass flying from a broken window and had lodged itself in her brain.

"Alis! Alis!" Selvig shouted in panic.

Alis waved a hand in his face to hush him and held her forehead in the other. She didn't know what the energy force had been but it had gone down fighting leaving a wound in her mind.

"Are you all right?" Selvig asked in a quieter voice and held her arms protectively. His grip was tight and he wasn't sure if it was out of concern or if he just needed to touch something to know it was real. It had been like walking in a dream that he had been woken abruptly from.

"Yeah, you?" Alis said weakly as she felt the hot needles drift from her heart to heal the hurt in her brain. In a few minutes she would be fully rejuvenated and they would have to flee. She had seen enough in Selvig's mind to know that they were in a lot of trouble.

"Fine, good, I think," everything in Selvig's mind was a jumble that was starting to sort itself out. "Oh god, he's going to kill everyone Alis."

Alis looked at him to see his eyes were back to normal colour and despairing.

"He wants me to study the storm energy, he wants to use it, he wants-"

"Erik," Alis grabbed both his hands and squeezed. His eyes lifted to meet hers and he saw they were swirling with colours and lights like a galaxy of beautiful lights. He watched transfixed but didn't panic, there was something in the warmth of her hands that soothed him.

Slowly the colours faded and her eyes settled into the normal shape of black pupil and bright blue iris. Seeing the blue made him sick thinking about the energy that had engulfed his mind trapping his independence and bent him to the will of another.

"We need to stay calm," Alis said firmly. "I know this is very hard for you because you're confused and frightened but I need you focused. I need your help."

Selvig looked at her controlled face and he knew he had to be as strong as she was to get out alive. He had no idea how Alis had broken the mind control but he knew she had taken a great personal risk to help him. Selvig thought back to his military service in Sweden and remembered how to temporarily separate emotion from the situation to act effectively.

"I can help," he said firmly and Alis nodded. She let go of his hands and he suddenly felt a little less warm and confident but collected himself before he lapsed back into helplessness.

Alis stood slowly to make sure she didn't topple over on her shaky legs. In less than a day she had been injured twice and healed twice, both of which were extremely painful processes. Once there had been a time when this would have been normal but her powers had remained dormant so long they were waking with a bite.

"How did you come in?" she asked as she looked out the window to check for hostiles. "Did you see any exits? I didn't see a fire escape."

"By the main stairs," Selvig's head pounded with a migraine but he ignored it. "There is an elevator at the end of the hall too. I think it's used for wheelchair access."

"Ok," a plan came to Alis and she didn't waste time refining it. "I'm going to assume there's still someone on the second floor. I'll make a diversion on the stairs and you take the lift down. Find a car outside that is still working and I'll meet you on the street."

"That is too risky," Selvig shot her down immediately. "You don't know how dangerous he is, he's practically a god!"

"Have you got a better idea?" Alis snapped back angrily.

She was terrified of whoever it was downstairs and his silent mind. There was no way of predicting what would happen once she put herself in the firing line and Selvig's mention of gods was worrying. She was practically diving into the shark pool without a cage.

"Let's go."Alis didn't wait for an answer and after opening the door slowly, checked the hall was clear and waved Selvig through.

He went to the end of the hall and waited anxiously for the numbers above the door to reach three while Alis went back to the office and returned carrying the computer monitor in both hands. She crept to the staircase then waited at the top.

The elevator arrived with a chime that seemed unnervingly loud to the terrified two and she watched the steel doors roll open. She nodded to Selvig who entered the lift and punched the ground floor button. He looked back at her regretfully and moved to hold the door.

Alis shook her head and forced a smile to reassure him. Selvig was still not convinced when the doors closed and she could feel the shame and regret he was exuding by leaving her behind to take the risk.

'_I'll be ok,_' she told herself and watched the numbers descend until a bold G flashed.

Then with a deep breath she tossed the monitor as hard as she could down the stairs making a cacophony as the device crashed off the steps and banisters on its way to the ground.

Not waiting for it to land Alis turned and ran back to the office. By her measure it should take less than a minute for Selvig to cross the floor to the main doors and she could slip down the pipe in time to meet him.

When she got there she intended to grab him and run, the car plan had only been a ploy to make him think he needed to get out first and have the crucial role. Otherwise he never would have left her behind.

Alis only wanted him safe.

Her foot was on the window sill when a green light flashed and she felt long cold fingers wrap around her throat. The hand squeezed hard and she was suddenly swung into the wall painfully. Her feet danged three feet off the ground as the hand held her in a chokehold and she kicked at the air.

Alis grabbed the arm holding her up with both hands and pushed back to alleviate the strain on her neck which she was sure would break. The green light had vanished and she could now see her assailant.

He was wearing clothes of a design Alis had never seen, black leather with intricate patterns carved in it that covered him from wrist to ankle with solid boots on his feet. On his shoulders hung a green cape that matched his eyes and a single band of silver adorned his chest.

Loki God of Mischief held her pinned as if she were a rag doll, feeling nothing of her weight or the feeble kick she had landed in his chest. With their height difference her feet could handle reach as it was. Alis saw the spear he held in his opposite hand and didn't risk another kick.

"So you're the one causing all the trouble," he spoke silkily with a smile of amusement. "This is interesting."

Alis pulled her chin up to free her throat from his iron grip by a millimeter. She swallowed with difficulty then forced the raspy words out.

"Very interesting," she agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

Alis sat in the chair Loki had dumped her in rigid with fear. Her fingers clutched the leather seat so tightly her hands were sweating but she hardly noticed as she watched the Norse god peruse the bookcase leisurely. With his back turned Alis glanced furtively past him to the open door and tried to measure how far it was from her chair.

"Don't try it," Loki warned and replaced the book he'd been examining. "I'll cut your spine in two before you make the threshold."

Alis took another look at the spear with its smooth serrated blade and glowing jewel and believed him. Since she couldn't see inside his head she had no clue who he was or what he was capable of so anything she tried would be a perilous gamble. Until she knew what the score was she would have to sit tight and wait for the answers.

She already had a fair idea of his strength from being subdued single handedly and the ease in which he had done it gave the firm impression that using violence was not a great concern of his.

His outward profile was distinctly human but that didn't tell her much. Most of the evolved bi-pedal species in the universe shared a similar body structure and Alis knew better than most that looks didn't count for much. Selvig had said he was a god but humans were a young species who still explained countless things with divinity.

Deciding he had made her suitably unsettled by his nonchalant manner Loki finished with the bookcase and turned to examine his captive. He nimbly took a hold of his spear and began to pace the room keeping his green eyes locked on Alis.

She was not what he had expected. When the Frost Giant had brought the news that a human female had derailed his plans of torturing Thor's mortal lover he had pictured something closer to Agent Romanov.

Instead he had found a scrap of a human little more than a child. She looked athletic but he couldn't see any muscle that would befit one who had challenged a creature from Jotenheim and won.

He supposed she was attractive with her large eyes and unmarked skin but with her blonde hair soggy with sleet and her clothes crumpled it was hard to evaluate her finer features. Not that it mattered greatly to him, Loki had never placed much value in the physical.

He watched her silently sitting in the chair with her back straight and eyes leveled on him and admitted he was a little impressed. His experience with mortals so far had given him the opinion that they were weak fearful creatures willing to submit at the first sign of danger. This one seemed to have more substance than most.

Inside Alis' head was a whirl of terror and confusion but she knew the importance of maintaining the illusion of control. To look weak before an oppressor would provide them with an excuse to kill her. Her experience with tyrants so far had taught her that they despised the pitiful but would sometimes show restraint towards those with qualities they could respect.

Alis hoped this was one of those times.

"What are you going to do to the townspeople?" she asked and caught Loki off guard. He hadn't thought she would be bold enough to speak.

"Shouldn't you be more concerned with what I'm going to do to you?" he asked with a smirk and stopped pacing.

This could be interesting.

"No," Alis said in a very blasé tone and forced her body to relax. "If you were going to kill me then you would have done it already. You don't strike me as the kind to waste time on theatricality."

Loki observed her loose posture and unperturbed expression and began to wonder. This mortal was either very brave to be showing such disrespect to an omnipotent being such as himself or very stupid. Not that it mattered much, the girl would be dead in a short time so if she was being brave it wouldn't get her far.

"I'll grant you that," he admitted and twirled the spear with his long fingers. Loki was known for staging the occasional theatrical stunt but only when they served a purpose. He smiled to himself as remembered how easily the Avengers had jumped at his spectacle in Germany and swallowed his lies.

Like catching fish on a hook.

Alis watched him smile and tried to decipher if she was endearing herself a little or if Loki was picturing how she would look on the end of his spear. With her telepathy obstructed there was no way of knowing and that had her on edge. For the first time in her life she was truly flying blind.

"I have no great plans for the mortal rabble other than to deliver them to Jotenheim so that my fellow compatriots can utilize them as a workforce," he answered and waited for her reaction.

"Slave labour?" Alis asked incredulously and scrunched up her nose. Loki noted that she was quick on the uptake and allowed her to continue. "That sounds awfully impractical. One of those giants can do the work of ten humans easily. Why waste your time enslaving a species so weak?"

Loki's eyebrows rose and he stopped twirling his weapon. He had not expected such a composed answer. Instead he had anticipated an abusive attack or a simpering plea to reconsider but the girl just watched him reservedly awaiting his answer.

He knew he should stop wasting time with the dawn approaching but his cell on Asgard had been devoid of entertainment and the girl was proving to very amusing.

Loki liked to be amused.

"You're quite right but missing the point entirely," he answered as he casually lent on the desk and rested the spear over his thighs to remind her that he could use it any time.

"The purpose of slave labour is to spare yourself the burden of work by having another perform it. The Frost Giants have recently had their largest city destroyed and their king murdered so they are very keen to rebuild and restore order."

Loki left out the finer details about how he had killed Laufey and had nearly destroyed Jotenheim with the bi-frost causing a civil war by default. He was more interested in what this human had to say than in telling stories.

"So what's in it for you?" Alis asked bluntly.

Loki put a hand to his chest in mock astonishment. "You think me self serving?" he asked sounding hurt.

"I doubt this is a good will gesture."

"Why?"

"Because," Alis' voice was almost a growl and the ferocity of it was startling. "Your undisguised contempt for weaker beings is so thick it's smothering. So if you haven't got the slightest shred of compassion for someone like me then I find it very hard to believe that you could help anything as primitive and vile as those Frost Giants without some kind of reward."

Loki was so surprised the smile fell from his face. The girl's eyes had a fire in them now and her jaw had tightened as she tried to keep her fury contained. He could tell that she was frightened of him but she was pushing that aside to challenge him.

He tapped the blade twice against his leg and Alis' gaze unwillingly flicked to it. Loki watched her eye the weapon with concern and was assured that she wasn't prepared to risk her life fighting him.

She had to be killed just right if he was going to get the humans to accept their future of slavery.

"It seems I have underestimated my brother," he conceded and stood to tower over her. "You mortal women are far more resilient that I had originally thought."

Alis looked up at him with a withering expression and waited. She did not prompt him but Loki could tell that she was still waiting for his answer. It didn't seem to concern her that she, an inferior, was demanding answers from him, a god, and he considered severing a finger or two to teach her a lesson in humility.

"Once they have taken their capture back to their world the Frost Giants will be indebted to me," he explained something to his own surprise. He wasn't flaunting his plans and he didn't respect her enough to dignify her with the response but for some reason he felt compelled to tell her.

Maybe he wanted the recognition for his brilliance that had gone ignored for so long.

"So you supply them with the resources they require and they will fight for you in return?" Alis asked and leant back in her chair to consider it.

"Essentially yes," Loki answered.

"Bad idea," she said almost instantly and looked very bored.

Loki's grip on his spear tightened and he felt a hot wave of anger flare in the back his head. His free hand trembled as he stopped himself from hitting the girl across her impudent little face. She wouldn't be anywhere near so cavalier if she had his blade in her gut.

Loki let the anger pass and calmed himself by remembering that this worthless mortal had caused enough disruption to his plans and she wasn't about to foil them further by antagonizing him.

"You think so?" he asked in a condescending tone. "Why's that?"

"Because using a foreign power in your campaigns will inevitably indebt you to them permanently. They will never let you forget that it was their assistance that granted you victory and you will never be seen as a true conquer by those you defeated with your borrowed army."

Alis crossed her arms and awaited Loki's reaction.

"You suggest that I use mercenaries instead?"

Loki decided her would play this game a little longer.

"No," Alis scoffed contemptuously. "That's worse. Mercenaries have no loyalty to anyone than themselves and no fear of god. They will abandon you the second the odds turn against you or will depose you and take the spoils for themselves."

Loki had to admit that she was right. When he had lost his battle for earth the Chitauri were quick to retreat and abandon him to the justice of Earth and Asgard.

He knew with certainty that this faction of Frost Giants loathed him, that was natural between their cultures, but they were so desperate to rule that frozen waste of a world that they would do anything for his assistance. Once he delivered the humans to Jotenheim they were bound by contract to serve him and if they didn't, he would kill them. Simple.

Or perhaps not.

This girl had raised some interesting points. Using the Chitauri army had been a fatal error and now he was uncertain they would have been satisfied with only the Tesseract as payment. Perhaps they would have enlisted him to fight their future battles or pay compensation for their assistance when Earth had been conquered. His own army would be ideal, put he needed enough power to gain their loyalty first. Vision was not enough.

"Do you normally lecture your gods on the methods of war girl?" he asked in a dark voice.

"No," Alis admitted and scratched the back her head, "but it hasn't exactly been a normal day. Snow in the desert and all."

"Do you hope to change my mind by illuminating the shortcomings of my strategies?"

"No," she answered firmly and sprung to her feet.

The suddenness took Loki by surprise but his superlative reflexes reacted before Alis realised she had caught him out. The razor sharp tip of the spear was now at her neck, her coronary artery tapping it in time with the blood pumping through her veins. She acknowledged the proximity of the weapon silently but kept her eyes locked on Loki's.

"This is a chance," she said clearly and strongly. "A chance to leave and never come back because if you don't I will fight you until my last breath to stop you from hurting these people. And when I die I will chase you through all the levels of hell until time itself ends."

Loki stood amazed at the person in front of him. She was at his mercy, with a flick of his wrist he could cut her throat and she would bleed to death in seconds. Yet she stood there ignoring the closeness of the danger waiting for his decision.

The blade fell from her throat and Loki laughed loudly.

He bent forward and howled hysterically at the whole drama. He, God of Mischief and rightful King of Asgard, was being threatened by a powerless girl with only empty threats for weapons and false confidence for armor.

He couldn't decide what was funnier, the situation or that for a second he had believed her. Imprisonment must have made him soft in the head if he was getting gullible.

She had used an effective ploy, he would admit that. She had him doubting the certainty of his victory by preaching strategic wisdom and making him forget that there was no opposition to face here. Humans he could destroy as easily as ants and if the Frost Giants tried to cheat him he would deal with them the same way.

"You are a stupid girl," he crowed and pushed her back into the chair. He had allowed her too much liberty and needed to remind her that she was at his mercy, not the opposite. "Tell me what you did with the Casket and Selvig and I might let you live."

"What a stupid way to ask for something," Alis spat. She was too furious to fully respect the fact her murder was most likely imminent. "Torture me and I'll lie. Kill me and you learn nothing."

"Oh?" Loki was feeling cocky and lifted the spear, moving it slowly until the point was lightly touching the side of face. "I've found torture to be very effective, especially when it is done slowly."

He ran the blade gently down the perfect heart shape of her face in an almost intimate way. She didn't validate his threat with so much as a flinch and he could see the hatred in her eyes as she waited for the pain to start. Mortals died so easily it wasn't even challenging so Loki always liked it when they resisted, there was a certain satisfaction in reminding them how helpless they were compared to a god.

The skin on her jaw broke with a small pop as the tip of the blade punctured her face with a tiny hole. Alis could feel her skin tingling with hurt but didn't alter her expression an iota. To acknowledge pain in front of this sick sadist would only serve as encouragement.

Alis took a quiet breath in and prepared to strike. Her arms were aching so badly from repressing the energy she had been building in her body the entire time she had to force them not to shake. But as much as she wanted to release the force on the diabolical god she knew she had to do it wisely. She only had one shot and if she didn't take him by complete surprise then she would be in more trouble than she already was.

"You summoned me?" a gravelly voice asked from the door.

Alis and Loki had been so busy maintaining their poker faces neither had noticed the Frost Giant approach. Alis could hear the blue monster's malicious thoughts loud and clear and felt strangely relieved. For her being able to read minds again was like having your hearing restored.

This feeling vanished immediately when she saw that the Frost Giant had shotgun spray lodged in its face.

"_This cannot get any worse."_

Loki pulled the spear out of Alis' face and she quickly put her hand over the tiny incision. She doubted the cut was significant enough to create a glow but she wasn't prepared to risk it. She hastily rubbed her jaw as if she was soothing it mopping up the dribble of blood with her palm where it faded to an unnoticeable pink colour. If Loki noticed there was blood and no mark he would wonder why.

Loki turned his back on her and spoke directly to the Frost Giant, coming to a decision quickly. The girl he decided was worth nothing but what she had told him held some value. Using the Frost Giants was folly, he had been so keen for revenge that he had not given proper consideration to his plan. If Asgard or the Avengers were to stand against him their strength would not be enough.

He would abandon the Casket and the Frost Giants to suffer a fiery death and vanish before the incompetent SHIELD forces detected his presence.

After all, he had more than one force at his disposal.

"I found your instigator," Loki said with a sweep of his arm. "Deal with her accordingly but make sure not execute her until you have the human rabble under control."

Nothing broke a rebellious crowd better than the public execution of their hero.

"_I was wrong," _Alis thought and jumped to her feet. She knocked the chair over as she went backwards and reached for the window which Loki swiftly barred with his spear.

In her head she could hear the Frost Giant debating whether to rip her limbs off one by one so the crowd could hear her tortured screams or to twist her head off in one deft movement to demonstrate their kind's terrifying strength. Alis wasn't keen on either option.

Escape was her only hope but with Loki blocking her best exit she would have to use the door, which meant getting through three hundred kilos of blue muscle.

Alis moved away from the window and didn't rise to the taunting smile Loki was giving her. She was more concerned with finding a way out than jumping to his bait.

Alis grabbed the desk lamp and brandished it threateningly at the Frost Giant who was stepping closer.

"You should not have killed Thurg," it growled lowly.

"He should not have killed that woman," Alis replied and threw her weapon.

The lamp bounced off the giant's mighty chest innocuously and it slammed its huge hand down on her shoulder. Its frigid fingers tightened and broke her collarbone with a snap. The frozen touch of its skin burned through her clothes and turned the skin on her back black. Alis screamed in agony while Loki watched on with satisfaction.

The sting of the burn made her knees buckle and her brain removed itself from the present as it tried to compute the massive surge of pain in her body. Alis' eyes went glassy and she suddenly saw her life with perfect clarity.

She had been born in a realm far away, had watched her family die, had been stranded in a strange world that she had adapted to, had struggled for years to create a new life she could be proud of and now she was going to die.

In a Walmart uniform.

"NO!"

The light was so bright Loki could feel the heat through his thick leather clothes as he was hurled across the room. It had erupted so suddenly he didn't shield his face in time and had to blink repeatedly before his eyes would focus. When the room dimmed back to normal he saw that he had crashed through to the next room, the wall that had been separating the two now rubble around him.

He groped around for his spear but found nothing. He sat up and saw that the girl was still where she had been a second ago, crouching with her arms out in defiance but the Frost Giant was gone.

Loki made a repulsed face as the smell of charred flesh reached him and he noticed the scattered lumps of smoking meat still had a few blue touches to them.

Alis puffed on the floor locked in place, her arms outstretched and her fingers spread wide. Using so much power after years of repression was making the muscles in her arms quiver and tremble as they tried to settle.

She saw the smoldering corpse of her would-be killer and realised that she had killed it, and with such ease. Her eyes flicked to where Loki was lying and they shared a gaze of disbelief, neither sure what to do next. Then Alis' senses returned and she was running out of the room.

Her legs wobbled as she forced them to move and she felt so strange inside, as if all her organs had turned to liquid and were sloshing around. She came to the staircase and ran down one flight before jumping the next. Her ankles nearly buckled on landing and she almost lost her balance. The red Converse skidded on the polished floor making shrill squeaking noises when suddenly she was pushed hard from behind.

She was launched a few meters into the air then crashed onto the floor face first, the smooth stone tugging at her skin as she skidded. She came to a stop and a second later she was flipped on her back, the bright lights in the roof blinding her before a weight fell on her body.

Loki straddled her hips and bore his full weight down on Alis as she squirmed under him. With one hand he grabbed her chin tightly and made her look at him.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" he growled short of breath. The pesky expression he had been wearing before was gone, replaced with a more wicked one.

Alis belted him over the head and he let go of her face to deliver a similar blow. Alis felt her brain rattle in her skull but she continued to fight, bucking her hips to throw him off, kicking her legs to unbalance his position and grabbed a handful of hair to yank him sideways. If you pulled the hair the body would follow.

Loki broke her grip with one hard pull on her wrist and pinned her arms beside her. Sitting above her he looked down to see her face set in defiance with her teeth bared and eyes full of loathing.

Had she looked this beautiful before?

Alis wanted to spit in his face but her mouth was dry. Her chest heaved with labored breaths and she kept rocking her hips hoping to throw Loki from his seat. She felt more vulnerable now than when he'd had his spear in her face.

She had revealed her secret but had failed to get away. Now she was no longer a meddling human but something more, something with great potential.

"It seems that this trip wasn't as fruitless as I thought," Loki had regained some composure and his voice was back to its regular calm. He put his face close to Alis' and she turned away.

She couldn't stand the sight of him.

"You and I my dear," his breath on her ear sent a chill through her, "are going to get much better acquainted."

There was a dull thunk of skull hitting metal and some on the weight lifted from Alis' chest. Not missing the chance she wrapped her freed arms around Loki and rolled him off her. Once on his back Alis rolled on top and slammed her right first into his face three times in rapid succession.

"You. Sick. Fuck."

Someone yanked her off and dragged her backwards across the floor. Loki began to rise and Alis released a blast of orange and yellow light from her hand squarely into his chest. The energy shot him across the floor like a rocket and he disappeared into the staircase with a tremendous crash.

"Alis get up!" Alis noticed how Selvig's accent got thicker when he was emotional.

Behind her Dr Selvig was pulling Alis to her feet with one hand while clutching a steering lock in the other. He had felt enormous satisfaction in bashing it over Loki's head but considering the standard of strength among Asgardians he figured he had surprised him more than injured.

"Come on!" Selvig pulled at her arm roughly and kept his eyes on the hole in the stairs waiting for Loki to spring out.

Alis got up then started to sink again. Her legs just couldn't support her weight anymore with all the energy she had released. It was like being forced to run after finishing a marathon and she just wanted to sleep.

"Alis!" Selvig heaved her up and put her arm around his neck for support.

He then flung his weapon aside and half ran, half hobbled out of the building dragging Alis along. She was moving her feet as they went but she couldn't muster enough strength to hold herself up, letting her head flop from side to side with every pace.

The few yards to the dented truck seemed to take a lifetime to Alis and she didn't protest when Selvig lifted her into the passenger seat and buckled her up like a child. She knew when they were moving by the rattling through the seat but she was barely cognitive of anything else.

Selvig drove with the accelerator to the floor hunched over the wheel to see through the frosted windscreen. The cold engine gurgled and groaned so loudly he didn't notice that Alis had thrown up beside him until she started groaning louder than the truck.

"Are you all right?" Selvig yelled. Everything he said came out as a yell now and not just because of the noisy truck. His emotions were all over the place and his grip on reality was extremely loose.

It hadn't even registered to him that Alis shooting strange orange light at the God of Mischief was unordinary. He was just grateful that she had attacked him and really hoped it had been fatal.

"Got to find Jane," Alis spat a chunk of her lunch off her lip and lent heavily against the seatbelt.

"What?" Selvig yelled.

"Got to help turn the machine on. At SHIELD."

Selvig had no clue what Alis was talking about but getting to the SHIELD facility sounded like a good idea to him. They had huge barbed wire gates and even bigger guns. The truck bounced into the slushy desert and they left the dark town behind.

The rumbling of the truck roared through the silent desert as it bounded in and out pot holes and over rocks. With the suspension destroyed the driver hit his head on the roof several times and the passenger swung loosely in her seat. There was no GPS and no time to find a map so Selvig just drove as straight and as fast as he could while keeping an eye on the side mirror for any pursuers.

When he saw a glimmer of artificial light in the East he swung the wheel to the right so hard Alis bashed her head on the side window. Selvig didn't offer an apology though, he was too desperate to find safety to observe pleasantries.

Alis noticed the car slowing and roused slightly from her daze. With her night sight she could see two armed guards with their weapons aimed at the vehicle. She groggily lifted her head to see the base humming with activity behind the cyclone fences with infantry running past and armored trucks racing around.

"Step out of the vehicle sir!"

Selvig squinted at the torchlight shining in his face and held up his hands.

"It's all right!" he said loudly and groped around in his jacket for his ID. "My name is Erik Selvig, I work for Director Fury."

There was a click as the soldier replaced the safety catch on his rifle and opened the driver's side door.

"I remember you Doctor Selvig," the young man said recognizing his accent. "I need to escort you to Doctor Foster and her team, they require your urgent assistance with her project."

"Yes, yes," Selvig said hastily and started to climb out of the truck. He was nearly on the ground before he remembered his passenger. "My friend needs a doctor first."

"We'll see to it," the SHIELD soldier assured him and took a tight hold on Selvig's arm to guide him away. He nodded to his partner who opened Alis' door and checked her pulse before radioing for a medical team. When he saw no visible injuries he patted her knee reassuringly before running into the base to rejoin the mayhem.

Alis sat still for a few minutes longer then unbuckled her seatbelt. She leaned out the door then fell in a heap on the ground getting a mouthful of dirt. Then slowly, like a sea creature taking to the land for the first time she arranged her limbs and pushed herself up.

She was exhausted, cold, dirty and in horrible pain but still she walked. She passed through the gates unnoticed and wandered amongst the frenzy of SHIELD staff who were running around panic stricken. Some were arming themselves and giving orders while others hammered away at computers and machines Alis didn't recognize.

The whole scenario was moving too quickly for her to understand the details but the collective feeling of anxiety and alarm beating like a drum around her made the situation clear.

Jane's invention was not working.

Alis dragged her feet in the direction of the three mind signatures she knew fondly and encouraged the faint flicker of energy inside her to grow.

"Run the generator again!" Jane ordered to the engineer operating a switch panel across from her.

"I can't!" he said desperately and tried to get the machine to function. "We've drained the power."

"Get lost flunkie," Tony Stark rudely pushed the other man aside and started punching numbers so quickly his fingers blurred. There was a hum as the generator revived and Jane hit the command key on her computer.

The scientists had set up a ring of computers up in a wide circle around Jane's faithful truck which had her device strapped to the roof.

Jane's invention was a series of three rings inspired by the Stark arc reactor which shone white and hummed with electricity. There were numerous cables of varying size running across the ground up into the device and about a dozen different computers sending commands into it but after three hours the machine had done nothing but glow.

The device was able to work, Stark's analysis of her math confirmed that, but so far no amount of power could generate a reaction. When Jane had done the blueprints and hypotheticals for her artificial bi-frost she had always worked under the impression that she would have SHIELD's state of the art equipment to conduct the test with.

However this impromptu attempt had her hooking up any machine more sophisticated than an iPad to build a wormhole.

There was a whirling noise as the device glowed brighter and the truck started to rock from side to side.

"Come on," Darcy whispered at Jane's elbow.

Darcy hadn't left her boss' side since they had fled town. She had swung between various states of hysteria, anger and misery as Jane and her team ran around assembling the device. Every time the machine seemed about to work her hopes soared then crashed when it failed.

She needed this to work. She needed Thor to save Alis.

The generator died and the bi-frost device faded again.

"I'm gonna try hooking this baby up to the Iron Man suit," Tony ran a hand through his messy hair and looked around at their crude open air laboratory searching for another solution.

What he really wanted to do was to suit up and meet the blue meanies for himself but it had been made abundantly clear to him when Doctor Foster's battered old truck had pulled up that they were going to need any technological help they could get. If Iron Man was killed by a frozen monster then Tony Stark wouldn't be able to help either.

"That chest piece wont generate enough energy by itself," Selvig shook his head at Stark. "It might turn the device on but it will burn out before you can stabilize it. We need to find another power source."

"Where?" Jane demanded exasperatedly and shook her hands at the crappy computers around them. "We're in the middle of the desert Erik!"

"Maybe we combine the two," her mentor suggested.

"No go buddy you're mixing water with vinegar there," Stark said.

"Alis!"

Hearing Darcy speak so loudly after hours of quiet mumblings stopped the science debate and they all turned to see what she was yelling at.

In the distance they saw Alis staggering towards the truck stepping over cables and wires. She put her foot on the back bumper and started to climb up to the roof rack.

"Bad idea baby!" Tony yelled out. "That thing is running hot. Get back here!"

Selvig grabbed Darcy by the arm when she ran past him and pulled her into a tight hold. The untested machinery was unpredictable and with all the power they had pumped into it the device was likely to blow up at the slightest provocation.

Alis didn't hear any of them as she moved across the car roof on her hands and knees. Her ears and eyes were hardly working now, no longer registering anything happening around her.

Inside, her body was rushing with hot energy that was rising with every breath. Her blood was boiling under her skin and her heart was hammering a tattoo inside her rib cage. The time, situation and circumstances were all irrelevant now as she retreated into her mind for things long ago.

"_The energy is a part of you,"_ she could hear her father's voice as clearly as if he was beside her. _"It heals you, supports you, cares for you. It is a power to be nurtured and respected. Channel it and you can protect yourself and the ones you love. There is nothing more important than that." _

Smoke rose from Alis' hands as they burnt on the hot rings of Jane's invention but she could not feel the skin scorching. The power running wild in her system had blocked any external stimuli and the sorrow she felt thinking of her father conquered any physical pain.

"_I couldn't save you,"_ she thought and took a long breath in. _"But I wont let it happen again."_

The power flew out of her system and into the machine in a single rushing wave. The truck shook violently as a tunnel of energy shot into the sky opening the heavens and bridged two universes together. All the colours of the rainbow danced in front of Alis' eyes as she held her grip and pushed everything she had into the bi-frost.

SHIELD staff scrambled for cover and screamed into radios as the violent tornado created by the active device sent equipment and people flying. The scientists held their ground in the fury of the gale and watched in wonder as the open wormhole screamed through the night sky.

"It's working," Jane gasped in disbelief as she saw her life's work completed. "The crazy bitch is doing it."

Alis' biceps bulged from holding on so tight and she clenched her teeth in determination. The roaring wind and raw energy blocked out any mind waves and tried to throw her backwards but she held fast. This was the last chance to end the chaos, to stop the Frost Giants, to stop Loki.

If her friends died then she would truly have nothing. The power she had was meant to heal and protect and if it only took her life to save them then it was more than worth it.

Suddenly there was a slam on the truck roof so heavy it threw her loose. Her open hands flew out to stop her fall but they closed empty. Alis thought she saw someone reach for her but her eyes were already closing from exhaustion.

Alis' world stared to fade away as she fell through the air but the warning that surfaced from her memory was clear in her head. This voice was familiar but it was not as tender as her father's. It rang of grim wisdom and cruel reality.

"_Your face will change__but not your heart. Reveal it and you will die." _


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Hi everyone, sorry for the delay with this chapter, it's very hard to type when your glasses are in the shop. A big thank you to Guest and Kaica my sole reviewers, encouragement is always appreciated. Enjoy the chapter and leave a note in the feedback box, tell me what you love and what you hate. I write to please. Enjoy!

* * *

Alis was sleeping deeply and dreaming of the past.

The dreams were always uncomfortable because they were scattered and fractured, some parts memory and other parts fiction.

"_This one is going to need a mother,"_ her mother's voice was always strong and commanding. _"Do a good job."_

"_All right!"_ Alis heard herself answer and wondered if she had ever really sounded that young. She felt so old.

The emotions stirred by the dreams made her twitch and turn in her sleep but the worst part was waking. Because when she woke she remembered that life was gone and would long to dream again.

All that remained were memories and they caused more pain than comfort. She'd hoped when she had begun her life in the new world that time would make her strong enough to carry them without the weight of regret.

'_Not long enough I guess_,' Alis thought as she sat up in bed and looked around.

The stark white walls and potent smell of antibacterial cleaner told her immediately that she was in a hospital and the watch on her bedside table said it was a little past noon. It took a minute for her to understand why The Kinks were playing but when she tangled her wrist in the black cord she understood.

Alis slipped the headphones off her head and recognized them as Darcy's. The college student had stuck to a strict diet of instant noodles and discount beer for a month to afford the state of the art Sony headphones and Alis was touched that she had parted with them.

'_I must have been dying,'_ she thought fondly and moved to get up.

The only other resident in the ward was an elderly man occupying the bed opposite. Alis was surprised that she hadn't heard his mind and got no answer from her hello.

A quick scan told her that it was only his heart keeping him alive now, his brain was dim with most of his identity and consciousness destroyed by dementia.

Not wanting to linger on the man's condition Alis hopped out of bed and took a quick inventory of the duffle bag she found under the bed. After shuffling the contents around she concluded that Jane must have packed it as there was a mix of her things and Darcy's. Not that it was a problem as the two of them kept such close quarters they basically had a 'what's mine is yours' policy with their stuff.

Wearing the standard issue hospital gown and bathrobe Alis walked down the hall unnoticed by the busy medical staff and locked the bathroom door behind her. She sat the bag on the closed toilet lid and flicked the light on.

Alis took a look in the mirror and groaned with dismay when she saw that the New Mexico tan had vanished leaving her lily white. A feeling of terror spiked suddenly and she pulled the hospital gown over her head and twisted to examine her back in the mirror.

'_Thank goodness,' _she thought with enormous relief when she saw the flawless skin.

A change in skin tone was easy enough to explain but if her markings reappeared staying inconspicuous would become far more difficult. Alis then went on to examine what other side effects her stunt with the bi-frost machine had caused.

Her jaw line was more dominant from the sudden weight loss and she ran both hands over her ribs with a frown. Her fingertips dipped in and out of the divots of her mid-section and her pelvis was almost sharp with the skin pulled so tight over her bones.

These changes annoyed Alis as she took great pride in the body she had worked hard to achieve. To maintain her athletic physique she ran every morning and went to the gym whenever she had a few free hours. So when she saw that she was left with only bones and skin she was less than impressed.

However she was grateful that a lack of colour and fat were the only obvious changes and blasted her new body under a hot pounding shower. She could feel the groggy feeling of slumber lifting as she scrubbed her skin and hair vigorously with her fingertips.

When dry Alis noticed her hair was now a brighter blonde but wasn't overly concerned. She could always put that change down to hair formula or salon shampoo.

Wearing her jeans and Darcy's long sleeve top Alis walked back to the ward barefoot with the dirty gown bundled under her arm. When she arrived she threw it on the unmade bed and looked around for a pair of shoes.

Alis was never one for vanity but she loved her Converse shoes and was devastated to find them missing. She started counting up her spare income for the week to see if she could afford a new pair when the ward's lone resident started coughing.

When it didn't stop after a few seconds Alis hurried over to him and slipped her arm under his back to lift him. His wasted body was lighter than even hers so she sat him up easily and patted his back until he spat a wad of phlegm into the tissue she was holding.

"There we go," she said soothingly with a smile and quickly threw the soiled tissue in the bin. "All better now."

Alis knew his mind could no longer comprehend the words but there remained enough basic function for him to take comfort in her tone and touch.

She carefully lowered his head back on the pillow and the man suddenly looked at her with perfect clarity. Alis froze at the unexpected change and he spoke in a strong voice that did not befit a dying man.

"When the silence comes the world will end."

"Sorry what?" All the good feeling the shower had generated vanished as the man's words sent a chill down her spine.

But the dying man offered no explanation as his eyes clouded over and his gaze emptied. His mouth hung open but there were no more words forthcoming, a small tickle of drool escaping instead.

Alis knew that people said all sorts of things when close to death, some profound while other incomprehensible. However these words did not sound random and confusing as one would expect from a demented mind. They had been fluent and spoken with such certainty it felt like the man knew it for sure even if he couldn't remember his name or the day of the week.

'_What silence?'_ she wondered as she looked into his tragic face. _'And there's more than one world.' _

"Alis!"

Alis spun around to see Dr Selvig standing by her bed in fresh clothes and smiling broadly. The happiness shining around him warmed the chilly feeling the man's prophecy had planted inside her but her visitor reminded Alis of the Frost Giant crisis and the euphoria she'd had upon waking had gone.

Now she would have to face the aftermath of her actions and there would be lies to tell.

"You're awake!" Selvig's voice was joyful and he flapped his arms enthusiastically. "How are you feeling?"

"Shitty," Alis grunted letting her bad mood show. "Let's get out of here. Have you seen my shoes?"

"We had to throw them away," Selvig explained as he watched her confused. "They were all muddy."

He had not expected her to be so active or collected upon waking. She had dueled with a god and opened the gates to another world yet she shuffled around the room as if she was getting ready for work.

"No bother," Alis didn't let her disappointment show. Once upon a time she had lived barefoot. Shoes were a convention she had taken up to blend in years ago and now it felt abnormal going without them. She zipped up the duffle bag roughly and recognized the book Selvig was holding in his hand.

"Have you been reading my book?" she asked annoyed.

"Reading it to you," Selvig corrected a little defensively.

"To me?" she frowned then the answer crept up on her. "How long have I been asleep?"

"A week," he said softly.

"A week?" Alis repeated weakly and blinked a few times. When she was sure Selvig wasn't joking she swallowed hard and let out a heavy breath.

If she'd used enough energy to put her out for a week then her physical changes were the least of her worries.

"The music was Darcy's idea," Selvig went on kindly. "They say it helps when someone is…in a coma."

"Yeah…I um…I've heard that too," Alis collected herself slowly and refocused on the present.

She had to get out of the hospital and find out what had happened while she was sleeping. From there she would plan her next move.

"Let's go home," she said to Selvig in a friendlier tone and swung the bag over her shoulder.

As they walked to the exit Selvig asked her to stay and be checked out by doctors but Alis assured him that she was perfectly well. She couldn't explain it to him, but she knew she would still be sleeping if she wasn't fully recovered. Alis found his concern touching though and dismissed his worries politely.

They were almost at the door when three people rose from the visitor chairs simultaneously.

"Miss Alis."

Alis stopped to see three people who obviously worked for SHIELD. Nobody ever tried to fit in harder than secret agents. One was a stunning woman with red hair and generous curves, the other a fit grim looking man about the same age and between them was a tall man with dark skin and an eye patch. She felt Selvig take her hand protectively which made it easier to read his thoughts.

He wasn't scared of these people, he knew them as well as one could know spies and thought them all decent. But Selvig was wary because he never knew what Nick Fury's intentions were and couldn't say he agreed with all the methods the SHIELD director used.

Alis looked between the three and could tell they were keeping their thoughts well guarded. She wondered which one of her friends had let her secret slip, her bet being Darcy, when she felt a pang of guilt come from Selvig.

'_No worry,'_ she thought. _'They can't prove anything.'_

She didn't blame Selvig for telling the SHIELD agents. He had been so scared and confused that snowy night she wasn't surprised he had given more details than was prudent. Panic always provided room for blunder.

"Can I help you?" Alis asked assertively.

She was more confident speaking to these people than Loki as she could still read their minds but with their cards so close to the chest she would have to step carefully.

"My name is Nick Fury Director of SHIELD. We'd like a word if you have the time?" the leader asked not really caring if she had the time or not.

"I really have to get home," Alis declined civilly. "I've been in hospital for a week and I need to see if I still have a job."

That last part was lie. Izzy of Izzy's Diner absolutely adored Alis for her strong work ethic and loved to gossip in Spanish with her. Alis wasn't totally sure if Walmart was still rostering her on after her unexplained absence but decided she didn't care. She was done with that purple vest.

"This wont take long," Fury assured with a ring of finality.

Alis observed the trio for a moment longer and concluded that she wasn't in any immediate danger. But if she was going to play cards with these people then she would need an ace up her sleeve.

"Can Dr Selvig come?" she asked squeezing his hand tighter.

Alis didn't expect Selvig to have any influence on the upcoming conversation but if she appeared needy the agents would misperceive her as weak. It was always better if people underestimated you because false confidence was a downfall.

"Certainly," Fury said with a nod of his head and indicated to a room across the hall. "Shall we?"

'_Already had a room booked,'_ Alis thought realising that the spies must have been waiting for her to wake.

Someone had probably alerted them the second she'd gone to the shower. She knew Selvig hadn't been involved by his thoughts and could feel a paternal feeling rise inside him but she didn't understand why. He was grateful to her for breaking Loki's mind control but Alis had considered the debt paid when he'd come back for her swinging a steering lock.

The scales were balanced.

Alis took a seat at the empty table in what looked like a staff tea room and waited for everyone else to sit. Selvig sat close to her while the others sat across from them like a panel of judges.

Alis could feel Selvig's foot tapping anxiously on the linolineum floor but the SHIELD people stayed still as stone. Until she could get a clear indication of their intentions her best tactic was to look as harmless and oblivious as possible so Alis kept her face blank and eyes wide.

In the few seconds it took for Fury to start talking she noticed that the woman was thinking in Russian while the suppressed aggression coming from the unnamed man was almost tangible.

'_Are you reading my thoughts right now?'_ she heard him think. _'Try that mind control shit and you'll be sorry.'_

'_Moron,'_ Alis thought contemptuously but didn't let her opinion show.

"Hopefully this wont take too long," Fury began and opened the file Agent Romanov handed him.

"Happy to help any way I can," Alis said brightly.

"Good to hear," the Director went on and ran his hand down the paper in front of him. "Because we've been trying to gather some background information on you and as you can see, we haven't had much luck."

Fury spun the folder on the table to show Alis the perfect white papers that filled the file. Not a single word was printed on any of them.

Alis felt Selvig stiffen next to her but she held her composure and quickly weighed up the scenario. Instinct told her to run but logic told her to stay. She was outmatched by the agents physically and no doubt they had more of their associates scattered throughout the building. Alis had experience in escaping traps but she didn't know this hunter well enough to take her chances just yet.

It would be best to wait and observe.

Alis rose out of her chair to take a better look at the empty file then sat back down with an amused smile.

"I suggest you look a little harder then," she said and crossed her arms to project confidence. "And fire your research team, they clearly suck."

"That's what I thought too," Fury admitted and his gaze hardened. "So I had them do it again and after many hours of scouring every database accessible to us-which is all of them-they still came up with nothing. It seems that you simply don't exist."

"Clearly I do," Alis spread her arms wide in ridicule but her voice had lost its jovial tone.

Beside her Selvig was getting more anxious and confused while Agent Romanov remained unchanged, preserving her cool demeanor. Director Fury was keeping a lid on his emotions until he had a better gauge of situation while Agent Barton was growing increasingly impatient.

"So it would seem," Fury spoke slowly and clearly so there was no chance of a misunderstanding. "Which makes me wonder how you can rent an apartment, work two honest jobs and borrow library books when you don't even have a last name."

"What is it you really want to know Mr Fury?" Alis had had enough of the banter and cut to the point. "My passport number and mother's maiden name?"

"Those things too," Fury said. "But I'm more interested in knowing how all your blood samples came back abnormal."

Fury had thrown a bomb into the area to get a reaction that would reveal something useful but the bomb didn't detonate. Alis answered without skipping a beat.

"I'd say your medical team suck too."

Alis didn't like to use the word 'suck' ordinarily but she figured the worse her vocabulary the more likely they were to take her for stupid. People always underestimated you when they thought you stupid.

"You're not taking this seriously," the thin layer of friendliness Fury had before fell away. He was now the Director of SHIELD who was stressed and fatigued to breaking point.

He had been on route to Puente Antiguo in his jet when he'd received a report that a single person had miraculously opened the bi-frost and a small group of Asgardians were putting an end to the invasion. When Fury had landed and surveyed the damage he knew that the situation was too catastrophic to be contained to the small town.

There had been too many witnesses to buy their silence and the town too badly damaged to explain it all with an elaborate cover story. By the time he had arrived police from local areas were already canvassing the situation, getting the dead out of the streets and the living home. The media weren't far behind already reporting that this was the second alien attack in under a year and demanded answers about the population's safety.

The Frost Giant attack had taken SHIELD unawares so the reports he'd gotten from his own people were sketchy but a promising lead had arisen when Selvig said he had been saved from Loki by a local waitress.

"No I'm not," Alis admitted and rested her elbows on the table. "Why are you?"

"SHIELD serves to monitor any and all potential threats to the Earth's security," Fury knew she was trying to stir him but he'd handled tougher characters and kept his cool. "So it would be awfully remiss of us not to take this interview **very** seriously."

"Don't patronize me Mr Fury, you aren't fooling anyone," Alis decided she wasn't going to humour these people anymore and abandoned her simpleton ruse. "You were caught out by Loki and his blue goons and now you are coving your blunder by making me the villain. You should be out there looking for Loki not wasting your time bullying me."

"What makes you so certain he'll be back?" Barton spoke for the first time and everyone stopped to look at him.

In her mind Alis could feel Agent Romanov getting something close to nervous and Fury had a flicker of irritation in his thoughts.

'_They want to keep him quiet,'_ Alis realised after a second of light scanning. _'Let's work with that.'_

"Well for one thing he abandoned his plans too easily for someone who has put all his bets on the one horse," Alis spoke to Agent Barton in a condescending tone to deliberately aggravate him. "Also he's a sick psychopath hell bent on subjugating the human race so he'll be back soon enough to wreak havoc."

"Or perhaps you have more intimate knowledge of his plans?" he shot back.

Barton had had enough of this tip-toeing around the situation. His idea had been to relocate the suspect to a SHIELD facility while still comatose so they could run a more through medical analysis and get straight to the questioning the second she awoke. But Fury had shot him down saying they were dealing with a person of interest, not a criminal, and until they had all the details they were going to deal with the situation diplomatically.

Alis did not like what Agent Barton was implying and she liked the connotations of 'intimate' even less. She had gotten a clear enough idea of what Loki was like to know that being bundled in the same basket as him was not a compliment.

"Just what are you accusing me of?" she asked very tightly.

"I've fought Loki, I know what he is capable of," Barton ignored the subtle signals his companions were giving him to stop. "So I'm highly skeptical when I hear that you managed to take him on and win. It sounds more far likely that you had a hand in his plans."

Alis opened her mouth to reply but Selvig beat her to it.

"Now wait just a minute!" the scientist was on his feet so quickly Alis jumped in her seat and all the SHIELD agents touched their concealed handguns.

"I don't know what is entirely going on here," Selvig was so loud and intimidating even Fury didn't try to interrupt, "and I don't plan to ask. I accepted the moment I agreed to work for you people that I would be kept in the dark about a lot of things and I knew better than to question your judgment. But if you think that you can just come in here and accuse this girl, this good girl, of doing something dishonest then you can all go to hell!"

Alis had such a strong urge to hug Selvig right then she ignored the fact he had called her a 'good girl,' which she would have normally found degrading. She kept her impulses in check however as she didn't need telepathy to know he was extremely pissed.

She beamed at Selvig with pure joy thinking he was wonderful with his red face and clenched fist then looked across the table at the astonished agents. Her ace had trumped them all.

"We're leaving," she declared grinning and stood with her bag in hand.

"We're not done here," Barton snapped out of his shock and frowned at Alis.

"Yes we are," Selvig grunted then with one hand on Alis' shoulder steered her from the room without a goodbye.

"Say the word boss and I'll have her bundled into the back of a van and under arrest before they get out the carpark," Barton said still watching the empty door.

When he got no answer he looked around and saw Natasha giving him a disapproving look while Fury neatly put the file back together. Once he had wound the cord around the ring to bind the folder together he flicked his one good eye on Barton.

He had originally considered it a bad idea to bring Barton along as all reports on the elite archer had indicated that he was not yet fit to return to the field. Fury had put that aside however thinking it might be good to ease Barton back into duty with a small controlled meeting with a questionable individual but it was evident now he had erred.

"We will not make further contact with Miss Alis," he said in the same tone he gave orders in, "until we are sure of her intentions. We may have already lost Dr Selvig and we can't afford to have Dr Foster take her research elsewhere. So we wont be insulting their friend any further with ungrounded accusations."

"Forgive me sir," Barton responded gruffly. "But do you really think it wise to let someone who can fight aliens barehanded out of our sight?"

"No," Fury kept his annoyance well contained. "Which is why we will be keeping a tail on her until we know something more. Now we all have a lot more to do today so why don't we get moving?"

A few blocks away Selvig's car hummed along the road which was full of cracks and holes from Frost Giant footprints. The traffic was unusually light and Alis figured that was because a lot of cars had been destroyed in the attack.

Still in a good mood from Selvig's passionate defense Alis sat in the passenger seat smiling but when she looked out the window she realized she was the only person who was.

People were walking along the streets carrying their groceries and talking with neighbours but there was a certain heaviness to their actions. The people had reverted to their regular routines to give themselves a sense of stability but no amount of normality was going to erase the fact that their homes had been invaded and the safety of their loved ones threatened.

Alis knew that with time these people would overcome their trauma and move forward despite how downtrodden they felt now. The greatest quality of humans was their ability to adapt and overcome. That was what had gotten them through centuries of war, domination and famine and it would get them through this.

Selvig parked the car outside Jane's laboratory and they hopped out ready to forget their encounter with SHIELD. This was good day and they were going to enjoy it.

Alis saw that the laboratory was unusually busy inside but couldn't recognize anyone from the distance she was at. New glass had been installed and a classy new door with the smashed glass mounted in a pile by the kerb ready for the dump truck to take away. A grim reminder of how close they had all been to death recently. With Alis taking extra care not to step on anything sharp with her bare feet the two of them went inside the building buzzing with voices and thoughts.

Alis counted nine minds including hers and Selvig's, some she knew well and others new. The new ones were on a different rhythm than the others- a sign that they were not human- and Alis approached cautiously.

Jane was the first to see her. She had been sitting at the kitchen table speaking with a beautiful woman clad in armor when she spotted the new arrivals.

"Alis!" she shouted happily and ran over to wrap her in a tight hug.

Alis responded enthusiastically and found comfort in the smell of Jane's shampoo and washing powder. Her dreams of the old world had made her miss things she had lost but her friend's embrace reminded her of what she had now.

"Oh my god you're so thin!" Jane exclaimed when she pulled away but kept her hands on Alis' ribs. "Did you lose weight?"

"A bit," Alis confessed but didn't offer details. "I don't suppose you have anything in the cupboard? I could eat a whole bag of-"

Someone smacked her hard on the arm and her sentence was cut short by a surprised squeal. Her skin tingled under the shirt but not painfully and both women turned to see Darcy standing by scowling angrily.

"Geez what?" Alis snapped with an irritated expression and rubbed her arm.

A second later Darcy was hugging Alis tightly with her face buried in her shoulder. Jane and Selvig stood back silently with matching expressions of bewilderment but Alis knew how to handle the situation from experience.

"Sorry," she said sincerely and hugged back. "I had to make sure you were safe."

"It's not fair that you leave me behind to worry when you run off," Darcy mumbled in her ear.

"Yeah," Alis answered with a sigh as she felt Darcy's grip loosen. "But that's the way it is."

The friends stepped apart and looked at each other. Both wore firm expressions that were neither kind nor cruel as they waited to see who would make the first move. Darcy and Alis were as tight as friends could get so sometimes they could have entire conversations without a word being said.

"That's a nice shirt by the way," Darcy finally grunted. "Looks bad on you though."

"Thanks," Alis hit back. "Belongs to some slut."

They frowned at each other and a few more seconds passed.

"I'm not going to apologise."

"Me neither."

"I really hate you sometimes."

"I know."

The girls glared at each other for a moment longer before they cracked up laughing. Jane and Selvig turned to one another clueless before the laughter loosened them enough to smile. Sometimes the bond between best friends was too exclusive for them to understand everything but they could laugh along all the same.

The noise caught the attention of the men in the kitchen who wandered out to investigate. Fandral and Volstagg had gone eons without performing a single domestic chore leaving that responsibility to servants but Thor insisted that it was part of mortal hospitality to wash dishes so they had obediently complied.

"There you see," Volstagg said heartily as they watched the newcomer joke with Darcy. "I told you she was small."

"You didn't say she was gorgeous," Fandral said lustfully and fixed his hair in the reflection of the fry pan he was holding. There was nothing better than a night with a maiden to cool the boiling blood of battle.

Alis was still bantering with her friends when a shadow fell over her. She turned to look up at the new arrival then looked up some more.

The Mighty Thor towered over her intimidating and regal with his sculpted muscles, long golden locks and flowing red cape. Alis wasn't very fond of the colour red but she had to admit it looked very good on him. She noticed the legendary weapon Mjolnir in his right hand and readied her feet for flight.

"I am Thor Odinson Prince of Asgard and God of Thunder and Lightening," he boomed in his deep voice bringing all other conversation to a stop.

"Yes you are!" Alis said stupidly.

"For saving my friends and protecting this realm in my absence I owe you a great debt," Thor presented his weapon to Alis who scuttled backwards. "I am yours to call upon at any time you need. My hammer is yours to command, where you battle I battle."

Nobody said anything for a few seconds and Alis' blue eyes went to each of her companions to see how she should proceed. When no one stepped in to help she decided to go with manners.

"Thank you…" she forced out a polite answer as best should could. "Thank you very much. I don't really…battle…but thank you."

Thor accepted that and lowered his hammer which relieved Alis greatly. She'd heard stories of what that tool could do and didn't care for a demonstration. Somehow having it at her disposal was more concerning than comforting and she suddenly thought back to the petrol bomb and the Frost Giant.

'_I've done murder,'_ she thought numbly as her friends carried on talking around her.

Alis remembered how the beast had roared in agony as the flames cooked it alive and how scared it had been knowing that its life was ending right there. She had made the choice to confront the enemy rather than distract them and the consequences were hers to carry alone.

Then Alis remembered the woman who had wanted nothing but to see her children again and how the Frost Giant had thought no more of killing her than killing a moth. She knew how it felt to live without a mother.

'_I can live with it,'_ she decided and plastered a smile across her face as she was introduced to all the Asgardians. _'Life for life. Death for death. The scales must balance.'_

Over the next few hours Alis ate nearly her weight in food and caught up on what she had missed during her week off. After the bi-frost closed the warriors from Asgard and Iron Man had made quick work of thwarting the Frost Giants, those that did not face them in battle had run for the desert where they perished under the rising sun.

There had been no trace of Loki found though.

Jane was buzzing with contained excitement at having her invention succeed and was longing to question Alis how she had got it to work. She moved to touch Alis on the shoulder and pull her away from the group but Selvig stopped her. He whispered in her ear about their unpleasant meeting with SHIELD and that put Jane off asking for details.

For now she was perfectly content to be with Thor and make the most of their time together. Without knowing Alis' secret the device would remain dormant and the visitors stranded until Jane could supply a substitute power source.

"Tonight we must feast to our victory!" Volstagg declared his mind always on food. "I think a wild boar and a cask of ale will suffice. Or perhaps stuffed pheasants and mulled wine."

"I'm not too sure if the butcher has pork in at the moment," Darcy said regretfully with a frown. "Would they Alis?"

Fresh meat was a city luxury, this far into the desert everything came in frozen slabs off the back of trucks and thawed in the supermarket.

"Like I know," Alis answered with a mouthful of fruit.

"Oh right," Darcy remembered then turned to their guests. "Forgive my friend she thinks meat is evil."

"Don't start," Alis warned and rubbed her third apple on her shirt sleeve to remove the thin layer of wax. She hated how humans tampered with their food to stretch its shelf life or make it look more appealing. Their definition of fresh food and hers were very different.

"Take no offence to dear Darcy's teasing sweet Alis," Fandral touched her shoulder gently. "I too find preparing game abhorrent. The entrails do make a frightful mess and the smell is something foul."

Alis nodded slowly and lent back into Darcy as Sif distracted Fandral with a slight at his inability to skin an animal without soaking his hands in rosewater afterwards.

"Why does he keep touching me?" she whispered behind her apple.

"He likes you," Darcy answered with an amused smile. She loved how Alis could be telepathic but deaf to romantic suggestion. "A lot."

"Brilliant," she sighed and shifted her seat away from Fandral.

After further discussion the mortals and their immortal guests decided dinner had best be done out with Thor and Jane staying behind. Their reason being to gather information that would help perfect the bi-frost machine but everyone could tell they were desperate for time alone.

That night the mismatched group cleared out the kitchen at the local pub or 'tavern' as the foreigners called it and drained three kegs of beer. A cheer arouse from their table when Selvig announced the night's drinks were on SHIELD holding up the account card for all to see and the bewildered manager begged them never to come back again without calling ahead.

Selvig called it a night shortly after dinner but the Asgardians and young women stayed on until the next morning when the exhausted bar staff ushered them out. The morning air was crisp but the rays of colour forming on the horizon promised a fine day ahead.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Fandral asked Alis for the fourth time as they marched down the silent road. He had been trying to ingratiate himself to the tiny blonde all night and had gotten nowhere, much to Sif's delight.

"I'm ok," Alis assured him yet again. "This is a well rehearsed routine."

The Warriors Three and Lady Sif walked home proudly while Alis plodded along with Darcy on her back. Alis thought with some annoyance that this had been much easier after cocktail night three weeks ago when she was fitter and heavier and vowed to get back in shape immediately. She was relieved when she saw the door of their apartment building and bade her drinking companions farewell.

"Sweet dreams fair maids," Fandral called after them and Alis kicked the door closed a little harder than was necessary.

"Why does he keep calling me that?" Darcy asked as Alis helped her take the stairs one at a time. "Does he think I'm the maid?"

"Maid as in maiden," Alis explained and fumbled with the keys to their apartment.

"Heh, you maybe," Darcy sniggered and Alis gave her a dark glare before dragging her over the threshold.

Their apartment wasn't much to brag about as it was basically one large room that served as a bedroom, lounge room, dining room and kitchen with a separate bathroom. The only furniture they owned was a mattress, a fold out couch and a television which was still more than they'd had when they first moved in. When Doctor Foster had met her new assistant and tag along friend all they owned fitted in their backpacks.

Darcy flopped onto the mattress and scratched around for a pillow. She felt a tug at her legs as Alis removed boots and her vision blurred when her glasses came off.

"You're leaving aren't you?" she asked fumbling with the pillow.

The Lady Sif and Warriors Three had downed their drinks to salute their victory but Darcy had drunk to numb her grief. A week ago she had been sitting by Alis' hospital bed when the SHIELD agents had shown up to speak with the doctors and post a guard. She had assumed they wanted to know how Alis had mustered enough energy to open a wormhole but when she'd spotted Agent Barton taking a file from the nurse's station she knew their interest went beyond the scientific.

Darcy knew Alis better than anyone on Earth but she admitted that wasn't much. Alis never spoke about her family or where she had grown up and when Darcy saw her cut finger heal instantly with an orange light she never offered an explanation. Not that Darcy really cared about any of that. She knew the important things about her mysterious friend and ignored the lack of detail. Alis was kind, loyal and honest and that was all Darcy needed to know but she was aware that there were people who took more interest in Alis' abilities than her qualities.

Dangerous people who Alis needed to avoid, even if that meant disappearing and leaving Darcy behind.

"I don't want to," Alis admitted sadly as she threw a blanket over her friend.

"Then don't," Darcy pleaded.

Alis had been the first person to tell her that she mattered and had encouraged her to become more than top dishwasher at her Dad's restaurant. Friends like that were rare and Darcy wasn't keen to go back to a life without one.

"It's not that simple Darcy," Alis said affectionately and sat on the end of the mattress. "It's too dangerous for me to stay. Loki will try to get to me by hurting the people I love as cowards always do and SHIELD is sniffing around."

She hated having this conversation but Darcy had been her constant companion for nearly three years and she deserved a goodbye, even if she was probably too drunk to remember it tomorrow.

"But you have Thor and his hammer Meow-Meow on your side now," Darcy pumped a fist high in the air as if she was brandishing the all mighty weapon. "Loki can't hurt you with them around."

A spark of hope went off inside Alis' as she heard that. It had never occurred to her to ask for help as she had always considered herself alone and without allies. But Darcy reminded her of Thor's oath of protection and her mind started to tick over.

Loki was frighteningly powerful and his vicious nature had left a lasting impression. She could sometimes still feel his cold fingers on her throat when she thought about their introduction. Alis knew she was far outmatched and believed leaving as her only safe option but when she thought of Thor's fantastic physique and how he held Mjolinir with such ease there was some possibility that she could stay.

"Yeah maybe," she turned around to see that Darcy had fallen asleep face down with her mouth open.

Alis chuckled fondly with a smile and stood to stretch. She had a lot to think about but her brain wasn't going to work without the help of a hot shower. Her accelerated healing counteracted the effects of alcohol quicker than it took for it to have an influence but after a long night of dodging Fandral and dragging Darcy she was weary.

After a quick glance at the towel rack to confirm there was clean linen Alis peeled her clothes off and jumped in the shower. Closing her eyes she let the water revive her cold skin and breathed in the steam. She never held her head under the water for long though, she hated the suffocating feeling of it on her face. The warmth and peace of the shower made her doze on her feet and she didn't wake until the water started to go cold.

'_I must be getting old,'_ she thought to herself as she twisted the taps off tightly.

Once there was a time when Alis had hardly slept at all. Nights spent in public bathroom cubicles and under train station benches with her bag for a pillow. Sometimes she would be lucky enough to find space at a homeless center or church hall where she could sleep on clean sheets and get a hot meal but she always had to leave unseen the next morning to avoid being caught by social services.

Alis groped around for her towel which she couldn't see through the cloudy room.

'_Damn fan must be broken again,'_ she thought with chagrin and opened the door a fraction to let the steam out.

Alis was mentally composing the letter she would be writing to the landlord about the sub-standard repairs done in their apartment when the room cleared enough for her to see the mirror. Every muscle in her body tensed as she saw the word written in perfectly neat letters across the mirror in soap.

**MIRADA **

Darcy was so deep in her inebriated sleep she didn't hear the horrified scream from the bathroom.

Alis bunched her wet towel into a ball and bit into the fabric before she could scream again. She breathed deeply and deliberately to steady herself and forced her brain to take control of the emotions that were bursting throughout her body like a string of firecrackers.

'_Think Alis think_!' she ordered herself and sat on the edge of the bathtub before her knees gave out.

She looked at the mirror and stared the soapy letters down like an opponent in a fighting ring. It was only a single word that had no meaning to anyone else on Earth but it spoke to Alis in volumes. It told her that she would have to leave her life in Puente Antiguo, her family of friends and everything else she had come to care about here. Her life had once again been taken from her.

'_They know what I am,'_ she realised and thought about who 'they' could possibly be.

She had been dozing in the shower so she hadn't heard a mental signature. They still had to have been stealthy though to not make any noise and that made her think of SHIELD operatives in ninja-like idea was cancelled almost immediately when Alis remembered that Nick Fury had been asking too many questions to know this much about her. Even if his medical team were testing her blood samples every second of the day they still wouldn't have come to this conclusion.

The word was not of this world.

"I hate being right all the time," Alis said softly in a wavering voice and let her head fall into her hands.

Loki was making it clear that she was being hunted and had nowhere to turn for help. Maybe she could confront Loki with Thor's help if he just intended to kill her but if he had discovered her origins then he was likely planning something worse than her death. He was too smart to kill her out of spite and waste such a brilliant opportunity.

"I came so far," she whimpered and could feel the hot tears behind her eyelids. "I worked so hard."

She wouldn't give the situation the satisfaction of making her cry and pushed her palms into her closed eyes to stop the tears. Alis swallowed hard to fight the throbbing feeling in her throat and tried to think of something that would give her the strength to get up again.

Her thoughts turned to her mother who had been a paragon of strength and courage but thinking of family only weakened her further. Alis tried to focus on the love she had her friends but that reminded her that she was about to leave them.

"What am I going to do now?" she asked herself and she suddenly remembered asking that before to someone far away.

The last words she had heard on her home world came back loud and crushing giving her the strength she needed to stand.

"_There is a world elsewhere."_


	5. Chapter 5

The shrill chimes of Angry Birds seemed amplified by the small room. The SHIELD agent guarding the door was standing to attention like a perfect soldier but after three hours of the persistent sharp notes his steel façade was wearing thin. A screeching tune rang out as the player reached the next level and the guard ground his teeth together resisting the urge to crush the phone under his boot.

Darcy was taking great delight in torturing her captor but didn't let it show. She knew eventually someone would walk through the door and ask her a heap of questions about Alis so for now it was best to play the apathetic card. If there were people watching behind the one way glass then all they were going to see was a bored college student beating her all time best score.

Darcy had been through this routine twice in the three months since Alis had vanished and was getting mighty weary of the exercise. This time they had escorted her from the lab when she was half way through her morning donut and second coffee and the suddenness of it had Darcy thinking two things-either Alis had been caught, or the search was getting stagnant. The door opened and Darcy looked up to see Agent Barton enter. He tipped his head to the guard who gratefully accepted the dismissal and closed the door behind him. Darcy and Barton watched each other for a tense moment then she relaxed.

"So you haven't found her yet?" she asked with a satisfied smile and snapped her phone shut.

"I'm glad you know why I'm here," Barton dragged a chair across the floor making a sharp screech then sat down. "Now I don't have to waste time explaining."

Barton scanned Darcy with his cold blue eyes searching for any sign of weakness. The smallest thing like the flinch of the shoulder, a clenched fist or quivering lip might reveal a vulnerability that could crack a suspect. He just had to wait and watch for the opportunity. Darcy was a little afraid of Agent Barton but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing. She desperately wanted to leave the room and go home but if that meant sacrificing her best friend's safety then she was prepared to stay all day.

"We have spoken before," Barton began and Darcy nodded to agree. "But so far neither you nor your colleagues have been forthcoming with information about the individual known as Alis."

"Can't tell you what I don't know," Darcy replied simply and waited for Barton to make his next move.

She told herself not to give her answers too quickly and to keep her voice even. Maybe Jane and Erik were being interrogated in another room right then and Darcy had to be careful not to incriminate them with her answers. It was possible they already knew how Jane had hidden a hiking bag full of supplies behind the shopping plaza and that Selvig had withdrawn a large amount of cash from his account recently but for now she would play dumb.

Darcy remembered how on the day Alis left they had driven to the shopping plaza in the next town with SHIELD trailing them the whole way. The girls had spent nearly two hours boring the surveillance team stupid by making them watch as they tried on clothes, debated the benefits of different mascara brands and got their nails done. Then when the SHIELD team were so confident that the targets were too stupid to outwit them Alis vanished.

"If it weren't for you I would still be scrubbing pans to my Dad's restaurant," Darcy said as Alis slipped behind her in the crowded food court.

Alis had ordered her not to look back so the SHIELD observers wouldn't immediately realize that they had parted ways. Darcy was glad that she didn't have to turn around anyway, she didn't want Alis to see her crying.

"No," Alis denied passionately. "You were always awesome. I just gave you a shove in the right direction."

Then she was gone.

Afterwards Jane and Selvig had joined Darcy at the SHIELD base for questioning. The interview had gone on for hours but Darcy told them nothing. She didn't know where Alis was, how to reach her or who she would go to for help. Alis had no phone, no bank account, no registered vehicle and no known family. As she had bluntly pointed out to Barton a second before Director Fury suspended the interview, as Alis didn't officially exist she would simply disappear.

"We've had a report of the individual on the Canadian border," Barton began and watched Darcy's face light up with surprise. She hadn't known that.

"You didn't catch her but," Darcy recovered quickly.

"Are you sure?" the interrogator asked.

"Yes," Darcy answered confidently. "Alis is too smart to be caught by you."

That irritated Barton. He was still convinced that if Fury had allowed him more force and a free rein he could have brought the suspect into custody. Instead the Director had given strict orders to apprehend her with minimum hostility and had weighed him down with an inept team that had foiled the capture. The girl's intelligence had nothing to do with it. His arrow had missed by an inch. An inch! She had escaped because she was lucky, not smart. And because he had underestimated her.

He wouldn't make that mistake twice.

"I don't think you are fully aware of your situation," Agent Barton's voice hardened as his patience decreased. "We are searching for an individual well known to you but you have done nothing but hinder our efforts. You are an employee of SHIELD and are therefore obligated to assist us in this matter."

Darcy was sweating under her woolen top from nerves but she told herself she wouldn't be afraid of this man, Alis wouldn't be.

"You're asking me to choose," she said looking Barton right in the eye so he knew she couldn't be intimidated.

Barton crossed his arms and regarded the beautiful college student for a minute. The last time he had questioned her she had been sullen and snappy but unwilling to give the answers he wanted. Like most of her generation Darcy came across as weak and under exposed to harsh reality so he had expected to force the answers out of her quickly. But she was holding her own well and Barton couldn't tell if she resisting out of fear or some sort of misplaced loyalty.

"I am," he confirmed curtly and waited.

Darcy weighed up her options and saw that the scales dipped dramatically to one side. Barton was threatening her livelihood and possibly her future. If she lost her job with SHIELD then she had no income, an incomplete college education and a patchy resume. Darcy was proud of her work and the thought of going back to the family restaurant was daunting.

All she had to do was give him Alis and her career was assured.

Darcy had met Alis in her first year of college. If you were to ask Darcy about her life before then she would have summed it up as melancholy and uneventful. She had been born to a normal family in a normal suburb of a normal North American town and had expected a life similar to other normal people. It became clear before she hit her teens however that things did not work that way.

Darcy was the second, unexpected, child of a couple who doted on their only son to the point where their daughter was invisible. Darcy never understood what they found so brilliant about her brother Josh but they would passionately praise him and always provided an excuse to cover his shortcomings. When he performed poorly in class the teachers were to blame. When he was sent home for fighting it was the other children's fault. When he threw a tantrum his parents would blame themselves for not attending him closer and when he pushed Darcy too hard on the swing and broke her arm she was to blame.

"He didn't mean it," her mother had said with disinterest as they waited in the emergency room. "You should have been holding on tighter."

By the time it came for Darcy to pick a course at the local college her parents never asked about her preferences. They assumed she would amuse herself with further study for a few years then come to work at the restaurant and the only financial help they offered was letting her share the apartment they had bought for her brother.

At college Darcy fell in with some of the girls she shared classes with and had a weekly tradition of getting a few rounds at the campus bar after Friday's lectures. She didn't share much in common with the other girls but company was not something she had a lot of elsewhere. Besides, the more time she was out the less time she spent running around after Josh who considered his sister a substitute for their servile mother.

One night while partaking in the Friday ritual Darcy approached the bar to order a cider when the leering barman leaned across the bar with his eyes on her bust.

"How about a Dicken Cider?" he asked in a slimy voice.

"How does that taste?" she asked naively.

"A little salty," the barman sniggered and Darcy frowned.

"Dicken Cider," he repeated then moved closer to her ear. "Dick-in-side-ya."

Darcy pulled back disgusted just in time to miss the fist that flew past her ear into the barman's jaw. He fell back with a spectacular crash and Darcy turned to see the attacker.

"Sorry," the small woman didn't even look old enough to be drinking. "I couldn't bear the idea you wouldn't do that yourself."

Darcy saw the stranger's red shoes balancing on the bottom railing of the bar because she was too short to reach otherwise. Wondering if maybe her glasses needed adjusting Darcy looked harder at the blonde hair, lithe frame and big blue eyes. How in the hell had she decked a six foot barman with one punch? Or had the nerve?

"You don't have to be strong to be brave," the girl answered the unasked question and downed the last of her beer quickly. "You just have to stand up and say no."

She then stepped down from the railing and got her jacket off the bar stool while Darcy kept blinking in dumb disbelief.

"I teach the campus kick-boxing class," the stranger went on as the bouncer approached. "You should come along sometime, it sure beats hanging around this dive."

Darcy went back to her table and sat there silently while the other girls chatted around her. When they left Darcy's cider was still untouched and she was no closer to understanding what she had witnessed. There was no way that girl could have knocked out that creep and gotten away with it, arseholes like him got away with everything, her brother was proof of that. Yet that's what had happened.

The next week Darcy waited outside the campus gym in her sweat gear standing nervously amongst a group of very fit women. The girl from the bar called them in and greeted everyone by name.

"Glad you could make it," she said with a sincere smile when she reached Darcy. "I didn't catch your name last time."

"Darcy Lewis," Darcy said quietly and shook the offered hand.

"I'm Alis," she said and Darcy noticed her grip was comfortingly warm. "I'd tell you my last name too but I don't have one."

Darcy spent the next ninety minutes stretching, kicking and punching in perfect time with everyone else and felt a budding, but strong, feeling of acceptance. Alis drilled them hard and pulled them up one at a time to point out their individual strengths and weaknesses. She had no favourites, was cutting with her criticisms and heartfelt with her compliments. When the session finished Darcy's confidence dropped with her adrenaline and was convinced she had done nothing but make a joke of herself. She vowed never to go back but when she handed the twenty dollar note to Alis she was praised for her efforts. Darcy had never been praised for anything before.

The weeks went on and Darcy began to feel the change. She would leave the classes bruised and sore to spend a week of college lectures throbbing with pain. However these aches came with a sense of achievement and the success she had after each session gave her the confidence to debate with other students and quiz her professors. One night Darcy was alone in the empty car park hammering her brother's number into her mobile when she heard Alis locking the gym doors behind her.

"Waiting for the bus?" she called cheerfully as the deadbolt clicked closed.

"My brother is meant to pick me up but he's not answering his phone," Darcy replied and heard Josh's voicemail message start again.

"Want me to wait with you?" Alis asked coming up side.

"Oh no. He could be a while," Darcy was surprised by the offer but tried not to show it. One time she had stayed back after school to go to Burger King with her friends and her parents hadn't even thought to look for her.

"Let's get something to eat then," Alis suggested enthusiastically. "You can always tell him where to meet you. I know a great place not far from here."

Darcy was worrying about how angry Josh would be when he pulled up and found she wasn't there but she walked alongside Alis all the same. Somehow how Josh felt didn't seem all that important anymore.

That night Alis introduced Darcy to the tiny Hare Krishna restaurant where they feasted on vegetables cooked in ways Darcy had never imagined and drank several jugs of fruit juice.

"I've never been anywhere like this before," Darcy said with wonder as she looked around at the strangely garbed staff and the colourful paintings of unfamiliar gods on the walls. "Is this something you believe in?"

Alis shook her head with her mouth full of food and spoke between swallowing and sipping her juice. "I was raised to believe in different gods but I don't really follow that faith anymore."

"Same here," Darcy said thinking about how she only went to church at Christmas. "Do you study at the university too?"

"Just teach," Alis kept her answers short. "I'll move on when semester finishes."

"Where to?" Darcy was warming to Alis quickly and wanted to know more about the mysterious kick-boxing teacher. She was also disappointed to hear that the lessons would be ending soon and wondered where that would leave her.

Alis spooned some rice onto her toasted pita then took a bite before answering. "I was thinking South America."

Darcy was awed by the idea of the lower continent. The only time she had left the state in her nineteen years was to visit her grandmother and they hadn't exactly been thrilling trips jammed in a car for six hours with Josh's Gameboy playing the whole way.

The two of them stayed for a few hours more chatting over their vegan cuisine and Darcy learned a little more about Alis' other travels. She had journeyed through Canada and the northern states then had walked along the Mississippi visiting everywhere the river ran through. She didn't say where she had started out from though.

The restaurant staff then took to the makeshift stage and entertained their guest by singing their sweet religious hymns accompanied by the pounding of drums and chiming of bells. Darcy was caught up in such a swirl of excitement, amazement and happiness that she never heard her phone ring and it was nearly midnight when they arrived at the apartment she shared with her wayward brother. By the time they had finished with the Hare Krishnas the buses had stopped so Alis insisted on escorting her student home.

"Do you want to come in for a cup of tea?" Darcy asked wanting to show her gratitude but at the same time dreading the state the apartment would be in.

"I wont say no," Alis accepted and followed Darcy in.

Alis politely ignored the piles of old take-out containers, dirty dishes and smelly washing and kept a smile on her face. There was an eerie blue light emitting from the muted television that cast shadows around the room and she tensed when she saw the shapeless pile on the couch move.

"I fucking called you twice!" Josh yelled at his sister completely ignoring her guest.

Darcy could smell the scotch on his breath and she prayed that there wasn't an old bottle full of urine somewhere Alis could see. Josh's standards of hygiene were so low he would happily piss into any container handy if it meant he didn't miss anything on TV.

"I didn't hear my phone," Darcy answered honestly and looked at her mobile to see he was telling the truth. "I was out."

"I got a flat and needed you to come and change it!" he kept shouting despite her excuse. "I had to call roadside assistance and wait for fucking ages!"

"Josh can we talk about this later?" Darcy was getting nervous and glanced back at her guest. "I have someone here."

"I don't fucking care about her!" her brother was now so close she could feel his saliva spraying her face. "This is your fault! You should do what you're fucking told!"

Something snapped in Darcy then and she didn't know where the courage came from, the words were out of her mouth before she had even thought them over. Never once growing up had she dared to challenge her brother because she was unsupported, but now things were different. She felt as if her own self was enough to make a stand.

"Piss off you filthy bastard!" she yelled right back in his face. "You're useless! Change your own fucking tyre!"

Because the room was dark Darcy didn't see all that happened but since she was standing so close she felt Josh move to strike her and her heart jolted as she awaited the blow. She then heard something hit him in the side and he made a strange noise before being flung from the room. Josh landed hard on his back as Alis dropped him in the hall then moved back as he scrambled to his feet and unceremoniously wiped the slobber away from his mouth.

"Who the fuck are you?" he demanded glaring at the blonde with hatred.

"A friend of your sister's," Alis answered darkly. "Apologise to Darcy and I wont have to hurt you."

Josh didn't heed the warning and ran at Alis swinging his arm wide.

"Don't!" Darcy yelled but Alis easily missed the punch and twirled out of range like a ballerina, landing a sharp blow on his kidneys as she went.

Josh yelped with pain as the impact sent him stumbling into the wall. He then turned quickly and charged at Alis like a wounded bull. Darcy knew she should be doing something, her friend was being attacked, but she just stood in the doorframe stunned. It occurred to her later that she never had any concern for what might happen to her brother, she was only worried about Alis' safety.

Josh reached out to grab Alis by the face, missed, felt her foot wrap around his ankle then fell down the stairs backwards. Darcy watched him fall with his arms and legs kicking wildly and thought him stupid not to curl into a ball and protect his face the way Alis had shown the class. There was a heavy thud as he landed against the stairway wall which broke her inertia enough to walk out onto the landing where Alis stood looking down judgmentally.

Below they saw Josh holding his nose in his hands as dark red blood trickled through his fingers. He was curled in the fetal position and in the silent building Darcy could just hear the pained mumblings escaping his foul mouth. Growing up Darcy had always imagined she would feel ecstatic to see her brother finally get his just desserts but she didn't feel any pleasure for what she saw. Just pity.

Pity because he was so pathetic. He had run around like a fool swinging his arms to harm a stranger and prove his strength but now he was reduced to a bubbling child cradling a hurt. Darcy realized then he had always been pathetic. Pathetic, weak and stupid all covered up for years by her parents' elaborate lies and his tough attitude but now there wasn't anyone to tell her what to think and Darcy could finally see things clearly. Alis walked down the stairs lightly then crouched in front of her defeated opponent.

"Get up," she ordered looking straight into his terrified eyes. "Get out of this building and take yourself to hospital. You have broken nose and a fractured rib. Probably two. If one of them moves and punctures your lung you will die."

Josh breathed heavily with pain and fear as he watched his attacker study him without a shred of sympathy. He could reach out and strike her but he was too terrified that she would hit him again, next time she might even kill him. She looked like she could kill him, she had the same look animals did before they finished their prey.

"I'll tell them what you did," he threatened weakly behind his hands.

"You do that," Alis said with a laugh. "Tell the emergency staff how you got your arse kicked by a five foot two vegetarian. They work long hours, they'll need the laugh."

She then stood and looked down at him like dirt on her shoes.

"Go," she ordered. "Or I'll break both your arms. The left for the one you broke in the playground and the right for humility."

Josh stared at her for a moment more with complete horror then was out the door before he could hear Darcy's cry of astonishment. Alis then climbed the stairs slowly and sighed heavily when she reached the top.

"I'll have that cup of tea now if it's still on offer," she said with a sad lopsided smile and waited for Darcy's decision.

Alis hadn't meant to look into Darcy's mind but the memory of the swings had flashed so vividly in her head when Josh went to hit her Alis couldn't ignore it. The very idea that someone would be so cruel simply because they could get away with it infuriated her and she had unleashed her anger on the worthless boy. She needn't have hurt him so badly but her temper had ruled her and she had gone further than necessary to balance the scales.

A thousand things raced through Darcy's mind as she stood mute and amazed. This person had just beaten her brother remorselessly and knew something that she had never told anyone. Who was this person without a real name? A spy? A stalker? A freak? No, she was someone who had risked herself to protect her, someone who cared about her.

Alis was a friend.

"Sure," Darcy said with a smile. "Come in."

"I'm still waiting Ms Lewis," Barton's voice brought her back to the present.

Darcy looked around at the undecorated walls, the bright overhead lights and the one way glass and remembered that she wasn't at college anymore. She was a world away from there without her friend and left to deal with Agent Barton alone who was now watching her expectantly.

"Ok," she said to herself then looked Barton dead in the eye. "Fuck you and the horse you rode in on."

Being an elite soldier nearly nothing took Barton by surprise but that certainly did. He watched in a daze as Darcy got out of her chair and started pulling SHIELD files and stationary from her satchel, slamming them on the table angrily.

"What?" his anger was obvious in his voice. "Why would you throw everything away for her?"

"She saved me!" Darcy yelled back even angrier. "Just like heroes do!"

"From what?" Barton openly scorned her answer. Heroes were for children.

"From my bullying brother, a life sentence in my parent's restaurant and from myself!" she answered with such conviction that Barton didn't dare stop her. "Alis gave me the strength to speak up and say what my life will be, no one else!"

Darcy then unclipped the SHIELD ID badge she wore on her jacket and threw it across the table at Barton.

"So do what you like Agent Barton. Fire me, confiscate my property and throw my family in Guantanamo Bay. Alis has more balls than any of you around here and there's no way I'll give her up for anything you can offer."

With that final statement Darcy grabbed her near empty bag and stormed out of the room leaving the door open behind her. Barton was quick to recover and his chair landed with a clatter when he shot out of it. He was just out the door when he was stopped by someone he didn't expect.

"Natasha?" he said confused when he saw his closest co-worker blocking his way. "Why are you here? I thought Fury had sent you to look into the Bulgaria case?"

"I heard about Canada," was her way of answering.

Darcy was already out of sight and Barton had lost his interest in pursuing. He would deal with the stubborn girl later, if Romanov was here then there was something more important happening. So why was she bringing up Canada?

"Apparently your aim is getting bad," she said coldly with an expression to match.

"I am not to blame for what happened there," Barton answered as his anger reasserted itself. "We were not fully informed of the target's capabilities."

"So now you're bullying school children to make up for it?" Romanov crossed her arms over her chest and regarded Barton with a very disapproving gaze.

"We have been tracking the target for three months and turned up nothing," Barton waved his arm in frustration and his voice echoed down the hall. "If her companions are withholding information then it is our job to extract it."

"Interesting," Romanov's quiet voice was thoughtful. "I was watching the same show in there and I would say we learned a lot."

Barton didn't relax any but he kept quiet to allow Romanov to go on.

"It would seem that Alis is someone who earns great loyalty from her companions," she began in her professional tone. "Selvig jumped to her defense at the hospital and her friend threw her job away to keep her secrets just now. That makes me suspect that she has qualities that people find admirable or at least endearing."

"So you think we're wasting our time questioning Doctor Foster's team?" Barton asked. He wasn't taking her criticisms easily but he had to admit that Romanov probably had a worthy insight. Natasha was a spy, an expert in human behavior, so she was able to see things in people that Barton's battlefield perception missed.

"I think you've gotten everything you'll get," Romanov said with a slight shrug. "And you should be looking closer at the other details you've gathered so far. It's remarkable that anyone, let alone someone so young to evade us for so long. She's too smart to leave a money trail with tickets or hotel reservations and as your trip north proved she is very adept at surviving in the wild. You should stop monitoring the conventional things like the airlines and highways, she's been doing this too long to make such obvious mistakes."

"What makes you say that?" Barton asked with an ominous feeling in his gut. Perhaps Romanov had discovered something that proved the target was as dangerous as he thought she was.

"Someone who can survive outside of conventional society this long has had practice," she explained. "She's been hiding for years."

"Right," Barton agreed. "She's got a record somewhere else."

"Have you considered that she might be the victim in all this Clint?"

Barton was surprised by that. Never in the entire time of this manhunt had he considered that Alis might be innocent. He was certain that she was Loki's accomplice planted here to infiltrate SHIELD and gather information. It was too convenient that she had arrived on the bus minutes before the Frost Giants invaded and too unbelievable that she had fought a god and survived. People who could shoot energy from their hands and read minds didn't work at Walmart, they invaded and conquered.

"Don't tell me you've bought her innocent kid routine too," Barton asked with disappointment. He had never dreamed that the Black Widow could be so easily fooled and was certain now that he was fighting this alone.

"You have been blinded by what Loki did to you," Natasha said as gently as she could. "You think because Alis can read minds and feel emotions that she's going to possess people the way Loki did you. You need to step back and look at this situation properly. This kid opened the Bi-Frost to stop Loki, why would she do that if she wanted him to succeed?"

Barton hadn't given that great thought until now. It didn't make much sense to muster Loki's enemies against him but perhaps that was the first phase of a more elaborate plan. Maybe she planned on winning their trust before stabbing them in the back or she thought she had picked a losing side and needed someone to destroy the evidence before defecting.

"When I find her I plan on asking," Barton said when he couldn't think of an answer.

"You wont be asking anything," Romanov dropped her arms and sounded disappointed. It hurt her to see her friend blinded by his hatred. "Director Fury has appointed me the contact for Alis when we speak to her."

The news stung Barton like betrayal, of the few people he counted on Natasha was first. Hearing that she and Fury were conspiring behind his back to usurp his position on the case and overrule his judgment was more hurtful than if they'd reassigned him to lighter duties. His expression hardened and he wasn't speaking to a comrade in arms anymore, he was speaking to Agent Romanov who he did not take orders from.

"We'll just see what happens when we find her." If he had to fight Natasha on this then he would.

"Clint," Romanov spoke with a sad sigh. "We already have."

**Same Day, California **

Alis remembered Malibu being nicer the last time she had visited. She and Darcy had spent three days on the beach under a perfect blue sky before they took the bus to San Diego to start their South American adventure. Today however the sky was heavy with brooding rain clouds, the air so humid you could practically swim through it and Alis didn't travel with the ease of one on holiday.

For three months now Alis had been keeping one step ahead of an invisible pursuer she wasn't sure she could outrun. Every morning she woke up wondering if today she would be arrested by SHIELD or worse, found by Loki. Her luck had nearly run out once already when she had tried to cross into Canada and the narrow getaway had forced her to change her strategy for a riskier one.

After she had parked Selvig's car at the bus station she had bought a ticket for the next coach out as bait for SHIELD to follow. Then keeping in the blind spots of the station's security cameras she had run five miles across open country where she had hitch-hiked north. Since then Alis had used as many different means of transport she could and changed her direction erratically to avoid leaving any trace her pursuers could follow. When she could risk stopping she would pick up a temporary waitressing job or scrub dishes for a few hours to pocket some cash but she never lingered long enough to get on the official payroll.

Now that escaping north had failed Alis found herself in the southern state planning to slip across the border. Her photo was no doubt now pinned up at every crossing point in Canada so Alis hoped to smuggle herself into Mexico. Her theory was that with everyone keeping their eyes on who was trying to get out they might not notice one loner trying to get in. She desperately hoped that the plan would succeed, because if she spent much longer in the States her resources would get mighty thin.

Most of the cash Alis had earned was gone despite how frugal she'd been and Selvig's parting gift was worryingly low. She was relying on that stash to silence the venal if needed when she crossed the border but it was hard to keep that money spare with other needs arose. Needs like food.

It was midday and Alis was famished. She hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday morning when she had demolished what was left of the stale bread she'd discovered in a bakery bin three days past. She hadn't quite reached starving point and could still buy herself a good meal but the risk of spending money she couldn't recover was enough to keep temptation at bay. She grimly remembered how much easier it had been surviving in the wild when she had hiked to the northern border but Barton had ruined that by making her change her strategy to city travel.

There was a reason more people died on the streets each year than in the wild. The concrete jungle was crueler to those who struggled than the natural wilderness.

Alis's stomach rolled again as it tried to find some dregs of yesterday's bread and she rubbed her middle to stop the noise. She would have to get something in there soon or risk fainting but for now she would have to go hungry. Alis had deliberately trekked to the affluent end of town so she would be harder to pinpoint in the heavy crowds and busy traffic but so far even the restaurant entrees were out of her budget.

Alis walked to the next set of lights and looked around to see where she should go. As she didn't really belong anywhere she supposed it didn't matter too greatly which way she went but when she looked over the road she spotted something that gave her a course.

'_Bingo'_ she though with an excited flutter and walked on the green man towards the hotel.

Alis hid behind a banner promoting a clean energy conference then slipped through the prestigious doors of the luxury hotel amongst a group of well dressed professionals when the doorman was distracted by a cab driver with limited English. She walked through the crowded lobby using the group as a shield until she found her prize on an ornate table supporting the elaborate flower display.

Ignoring the card that stipulated that the complimentary fruit was for guests only Alis stuffed three apples in her bag and had her hands on a pear when she felt someone standing very close behind her. Turning around she saw the acne ridden face of a bell boy folded into a frown and Alis wondered if his wages low enough for him to accept bribes. If she caused a scene, no matter how small, SHIELD's radar would light up.

"What are you doing?" the boy didn't bother using his genteel tone. One look at her clothes and grooming told that she didn't belong.

"Getting something to eat before the conference," Alis said quickly thinking of the banner outside.

"You're here for the conference?" the boy asked incredulously and Alis heard what he really thought she was.

'_Geez the whores around this place have really gone downhill if this is the best on offer,' _she heard the bell boy think. '_Body aint bad but the face isn't great. Guess you wont see it when she's sucking your dick though.' _

Alis' foot slammed into the bell boy's crotch before she could stop and think. He made a queer gurgling noise before grabbing his injured area in his hands and fell flat on the steam cleaned carpet.

In those few seconds the busy room came to a standstill and Alis was now the centre of attention. Conversation of those standing closest ceased and there was a collection of surprised noises from onlookers. Very slowly Alis looked around to see the crowd of stunned faces and heard their thoughts, some wondering what had happened while others were angry that she would make such a low attack on an innocent boy. Whatever they thought though, there was no way she was getting out of this unnoticed.

"Oh boy," Alis breathed and saw the hotel manager storming towards her.

"What is going on here?" he demanded to know glaring at her darkly through his expensive glasses.

"He said, well he didn't say, not out loud, but um he," Alis tried to think of an answer in a hurry but she had never been a skilled liar. The truth was always so much easier to tell because there wasn't anything creative about it.

"May I ask what you are doing here madam?" the manager asked stressing the word 'madam.' He clearly didn't think she was worthy of a respectful title.

In his mind Alis could see that he had picked her for a thief or some hopeless celebrity stalker trying to catch a glimpse at one of the conference attendees. He would give her a second to explain herself then snap his fingers for security to escort her to the police station. This was the third girl today he'd caught causing trouble and he had had his fill, it was hard enough to maintain a five star standard without having his staff attacked by scruffy teenagers.

"I'm twenty three not a teenager," Alis said distracted by his assumptions then cursed her stupidity.

"What?" the manager was so startled he lost his silver service tone and looked at her bewildered.

A litany of swear words shot through Alis' mind as she stood there stupidly wondering how to save herself. The foyer was too crowded to make a run for it, someone would grab her or the doorman would block the exit. Her poor imagination was trying to put together a plausible story when she felt a grip on her shoulder.

"Causing trouble darling?" a voice asked from behind and Alis looked around.

There stood Tony Stark weapons manufacture turned energy producer smiling at her like an old friend. He was a far cry from the exhausted man who had picked her up outside Puente Antiguo wearing a stylish suit with his black hair impeccably groomed and smelling faintly of expensive aftershave. Alis was so stupefied that she just stood there and gawked so Tony continued the ruse alone.

"Sorry about my friend here," he said to the manager. "I should have been keeping a closer eye on her but I got distracted by the huge clean energy conference I picked your hotel over all others to host."

"Sorry?" Alis blurted out.

"It's no problem honey," Tony said fondly pulling her into a close sideways hug. "We don't have a problem do we boss?"

"Not at all Mr Stark," the manager assured him and forgot about his injured employee. "Can I be of any assistance to you and your…acquaintance?"

Alis heard him think girlfriend, hooker, secretary and illegitimate child before he settled on 'acquaintance' and was glad he had chosen wisely. Otherwise there'd be two people on the floor.

"We'll need a table upstairs," the technology genius said and turned Alis towards the elevators. "Clean tablecloth, chilled glasses, flower on the table, all that jazz."

The manager was still gushing assurances as Tony steered Alis across the foyer through the thick crowd of scientists. He waved and shouted a few jokes around the room as they walked then ordered the lift operator to take them to the restaurant. When the heavy metal doors rolled closed Alis pulled out of his hold and moved to the other side of the elevator to gauge her opponent.

"Relax kiddo I'm here for the conference not for Fury," he said calmly with open hands.

Alis examined every inch of Tony Stark in his tailored suit and Italian shoes like a tiger sizing up a predator. She moved her feet into a fighting stance and opened her mind to explore his. After a few seconds of silence she saw he was telling the truth and relaxed slightly.

"Why did you do that?" Alis asked suspiciously as the elevator ascended with a hum. His thoughts told her that he was genuine but didn't explain his motives.

"Looked like you needed help," he answered with a small shrug. "According to the Good Samaritan law you can't sue me for any results that arise from my genuine attempts to assist your person. I'm not entirely sure what a Samaritan is or what the name of your person is however."

"Alis," she said with the start of a smile.

It had been weeks since she had used her name and it felt nice to say. In order to travel unseen a high amount of anonymity was required. If you wanted to become just another face in the crowd then you had to shed everything else, things like names and histories had to be kept secret as the smallest detail given in casual conversation could leave clues for pursuers to find. The trick was to make such an unremarkable impression on strangers that they would forget you minutes after meeting you and to move on before meeting someone twice.

"That's right!" Tony pulled the well rehearsed face he used when he pretended to remember the girl in his bed from the night before. "Like the one who fell down the rabbit hole."

"Yeah but not spelt the same," Alis added and started to warm to her new companion.

"Details, details," he waved his hand to dismiss her comment as the elevator chimed then ushered her into the restaurant.

"Well how about you?" Alis shot back playfully. "Do you prefer Mr Stark or Iron Man?"

"Mr Stark was my father," Tony answered and followed the waiter leading them to their table. "And the ladies only call me Iron Man in bed. You can call me Tony."

Tony sat his guest down and took the seat opposite as the waiter poured them each a glass of water. The waiter then placed a napkin over Tony's lap but Alis was standing again before he could put hers down.

"Thanks for the save but I really have to go," she said gratefully as she scanned the room for a neon green exit sign. Her stunt in the foyer would have quite few tongues wagging that could easily be overheard by someone listening for information about a mysterious blonde girl.

"Chill out I'm buying you a steak first kiddo," Tony stood and pushed her back into her chair. "It's a crime for kids to be a skinny as you. What are you aiming for here? The greyhound look?"

"I'm a vegetarian," Alis said ignoring his jibe and stood again.

"Nachos then," once more Tony put her back in the chair and he turned to the waiter. "Can we get some nachos? Or some steamed greens? Or what are those things the hippies are always eating? Bird beans?"

"Chick peas," Alis corrected and got up again. "And I really have to go."

"Hear me out kid," Tony's voice lost its playfulness and his expression was now serious. "I heard about Fury's little speech at the hospital and I think its crap. I've never been a fan of conscription to begin with but when he and Barton tried to bully you into spilling your secrets that was crossing a line. I'm just as curious as they are about how you got Doctor Foster's machine working but I respect that you would rather keep some things to yourself. I just want to buy you a meal and bus ticket before you go. No questions asked and no strings attached."

Alis suddenly felt very sad. Tony's support reminded her how it was to have someone on your side who genuinely cared and that weakened her tough resolve some. She remembered how Selvig had fought Loki for her and how Darcy helped her sneak out of town which made her miss them even more. Travelling alone was lonely enough but when she remembered those she had left behind it only got worse. That was why she had adopted a detached and practical attitude these past few months, reverting to survival mode enabled her to escape SHIELD's net successfully and if she was to survive she would have to stay strong.

Alis considered her new ally some more and saw in his head how he had kicked Fury out of his house when he had first mentioned the Avengers initiative. She moved some more of his memories around and saw how stubborn he had been when the senate had tried to acquire his suits and how he resented being used as one of Fury's pawns during the New York incident.

"All right," she finally relented and let the waiter put her napkin down. "But we split the bill."

"No chance," he said cheerfully and passed her a menu.

Three courses and a bottle of wine later the pair headed to the casino where they caused quite a stir at the poker table.

"I raise you five hundred Mr Stark," the country's largest wind farm owner said with a cocky smile and pushed some chips across the green table to join the large mound in the middle. "Remember three players are out taking fifteen cards with them, you and I have ten cards between us and there are only four aces per deck. Your move."

Tony silently considered the cards in his hand then turned at Alis next to him.

"What do you think?" he asked as the spectators hung in an intense silence.

Alis studied his opponent for a moment listening to what only she could hear then shook her head at Tony.

"I call," he said cheerfully and threw some chips across the table.

"I hate this kid!" the wind farm man growled angrily and slammed his losing hand on the table.

A cheer went up and Tony felt several hands pat him on the back, some in congratulations and others a little more suggestive. He stood to scoop the chips up and the other players vacated their seats for someone else to lose their money to him and his companion with the perfect gambling instincts. In three hours they hadn't lost a single hand and were still running hot.

"This ought to see you out of the country," Tony said happily and gestured for the casino employee to bank his chips. He felt Alis' toe tap his ankle lightly and looked up to see her shaking her head at him.

"Oops," he said and started to think maybe he shouldn't have been sipping champagne while playing. "My bad, super secret stuff right?"

Alis was finding it hard to get angry at Tony despite his childish manner. She knew that she should have been on the road hours ago but Tony had a way of convincing her to ignore sense. For the first time since the Frost Giants Alis was actually having a good time and wasn't worried about how many miles she had to cover before nightfall or how far she could stretch her cash this week.

Before now she had only known Tony Stark for a few hours and for most of that he had been asleep in the back of a hire car. However he was willing to help her despite the fact she was almost a stranger and was prepared to take whatever consequences SHIELD would enforce if they found out. Alis could see that his motivations were partly out of his need to amend past actions and partly to get back at Fury but largely because he considered her a 'good kid' who he'd hate to see enlisted into SHIELD's ranks. Alis could also see that really Tony wanted to help because he was a good person, even if he didn't think himself one.

"What are you doing here?" Pepper Potts was suddenly standing at his elbow with a very unimpressed expression on her beautiful face.

Alis took one look at the angry beauty and moved away from Tony. There was no way she was getting between this pair. Even if Pepper had judged her unfairly back in New Mexico Alis still had more respect for her than the other women standing around the poker table.

She admired how Pepper didn't use her looks to her advantage and dressed herself smartly unlike the bimbos nearby who were showing more skin than cloth. Alis didn't understand Pepper's choice of shoes though, the high black wedges with ankle strapping made no sense to her. A shoe you couldn't run in was totally impractical and she wiggled her toes inside her hiking boots longing for her Converse.

"Hey Pepper how's things?" Tony greeted, happy to see his girlfriend even though he was set for some serious apologising.

"Things," Pepper began, "are a mess. You are three hours late for the award ceremony and you missed your meeting with the solar energy people which by the way took months to set up."

"We'll send a card and flowers," he said nonchalantly with a shrug then looked away to see a man trying to persuade Alis to demonstrate her abilities at the Blackjack table. "Back off buddy she's a minor."

"I am not," Alis complained with a scowl but allowed herself to be pulled away.

Pepper didn't recognise the skinny girl and her thoughts immediately turned to the worst. She knew Tony's womanizing days were over but the rest of the world didn't. Pepper had taken every precaution to keep the paparazzi away but the legitimate media were covering the conference and if any of them snapped a photo of Tony gambling with an anonymous young woman there would be months of mess to clean up. Trying to keep Tony's reputation clean was harder than pulling teeth.

"We met in New Mexico," Alis said quickly and pulled the memory to the front of Pepper's mind.

"Oh," the assistant said a little dazed by the sudden recollection and Alis cursed herself for not being gentler. Rushing the mind could leave irreparable damage if you weren't careful.

The three of them left the casino with Pepper badgering Tony while he had his arm linked through Alis' to pull her along. A mass of well dressed people exited the elevator leaving it empty for the ride down and they had to force their way through the crowded lobby when they reached ground level. The dinner and cocktail party arranged for the conference attendees was about to begin and the room was a wild blur to Alis.

The bright colours of the evening dresses distracted her vision and stench of men's aftershave was so potent it was a great relief to breathe in the fresh air outside despite how muggy it was. Alis' head cleared some as the doors behind them shut severing the majority of emotion and thoughts and the tension in her brain lessened. Tony and Pepper were still bickering when a well built man exited the black Rolls Royce parked at the curb and opened the back door for them.

"This is us baby doll," Tony said and gestured to the open vehicle.

If the thoughts hadn't been so loud she never would have reacted in time. The person thinking was so desperate and nervous about what he was about to do his thoughts were practically a siren blaring through the quiet banal thinking of everyone else on the street. Pepper's annoyance and Tony's enjoyment were dull in comparison to the anxiety this mind was emanating.

He was thinking all he had to do was this job and he would be set for life. Five million dollars was enough to take care of him forever and then some. It would be easy, with one thrust it'd be done, he would be paid and on his way to Mexico by tonight. Just as soon as Stark's slut was dead.

Alis didn't remember thinking about what she did next. The man behind her pulled something out of his coat just as Alis pulled loose from Tony and she saw a flash of steel when she turned Pepper aside with her right hand and took her place.

"Justin Hammer says hi bitch," the hired thug said loudly but Alis didn't hear him.

All outside noise ceased as she looked down at the knife handle protruding from her stomach. Her vision was fixed on the abnormal sight and she couldn't ascertain if it was real or not. She opened her hand then closed it to test reality but still didn't understand. Alis couldn't hear Pepper screaming and didn't see Happy tackle the assailant to the ground, all she was aware of were the slow heavy beats of her heart pounding in her head. Then suddenly agony flared in her stomach and she opened her mouth to scream but her throat was clogged with blood rushing up her neck.

Hot metallic tasting blood splattered from her mouth and her knees buckled. Alis grabbed a hold of the knife lodged in her stomach like an extra appendage put couldn't pull it out. As her white t-shirt rapidly turned red she felt like all the strength in her body was leaving as quickly as her life blood. She could feel her senses scrambling as the pain raged through her body and she couldn't think coherently.

"PEPPER!" she heard Tony roar and suddenly she was dumped ungraciously on the back seat.

Pepper climbed in after her and Tony jumped in the driver's seat a second later. His foot slammed the accelerator so hard Alis nearly rolled off the seat and Pepper was thrown around but none of it really mattered much. The only thing clear to Alis right then was that she was about to die.

She could not feel the hot needles healing her wound and for a second she felt so normal, for once she was as vulnerable and pervious as a human. The energy inside her was slamming against her body like animal trying to break out of its cage but it could not focus and function with an obstruction. She kept trying to grab the knife feebly but Pepper kept moving her hands away.

"It's all right, it's all right!" Pepper lied and pushed her hands over the girl's abdomen to slow the bleeding.

"Out, pull it out!" Alis wailed with a horrible taste in her mouth. Nothing could distract her from the pain, just talking took all her willpower to push through it.

"No, no I can't," Pepper saw that more blood was bubbling from the wound and she tried to think of how she could stem it.

Basic first aid ordered that a donut bandage be wound around the impaling instrument then the rest of the injured area be bound but she had nothing to use for bandaging. Alis was losing blood at such a rate that if they stopped to look for something she would be dead for certain. Their only hope was that Tony would make the hospital in time.

"Pull it out!" Alis yelled and kicked her legs against the car in a frustrated rage. "Pull it out! I can't heal!"

"Stay calm you'll be all right!" Pepper yelled back and pushed so hard on the injury Alis screamed louder. It was unnatural for a person to make such a noise, it was too animalistic, too primal.

The pain and anger overwhelmed Alis to a point where she could only feel hatred. She hated that she was in so much pain. She hated Pepper for not listening and being so useless. She hated Tony for dragging her along. She hated the bell boy for getting her in trouble. She hated SHIELD for forcing her to run. She hated everything and she was not going to be beaten and die here.

With one final rush of willpower she reached over, pulled the knife from her body and opened the door behind her. It all happened so quickly Pepper didn't believe it right away. One second there had been a girl dying under her hands and the next she was alone in the back seat. She saw the bloodied knife lying abandoned on the car floor and reacted.

"TONY!" she screamed and he slammed the brakes on.

Alis was only mildly aware that it had started raining as she held her stomach in with her hands. She had landed on her head and rolled down the freeway for several meters before coming to a stop. One car had run over her foot breaking her ankle but with her pain limit already reached she barely noticed it. Around her cars swerved blaring their horns and there was a loud boom up ahead as someone ran up the back of the parked Rolls Royce.

'_Please don't change me back,' _she begged a second before the power inside her took over.

Tony thought she was on fire when he saw the orange light consume Alis. He had been charging down the middle of the road when he saw her small hunched figure disappear in a swirl of a hot light. Several cars skidded to a halt when they saw the eruption and one was about to run into her before an orange flare shot the car sideways into the barrier. Tony skidded to a sudden stop and tried to block the glare with one hand as he watched the swirling inferno. It danced and flickered like flames but there was no smoke or smell like fire, it was like raw energy that was too unrefined to be bound and channeled by a proper form.

Then suddenly it was night again and things were still.

Tony could hear the hot engines of the crashed cars ticking as they wound down and a few doors popped open as curious motorists emerged to inspect the damage. The rain was pinging off the vehicles and in the distance he could hear car horns honking at the unexplained hold up. And there amongst the chaos was Alis bundled up in a small ball. Tony saw her shoulders shudder then she stretched forward on the road like she was ready to sleep. Her small movements were enough to energize him and he raced over falling on his knees beside her.

"Kid! Kid!" he yelled shaking her roughly and ignored the mob of bewildered onlookers.

Alis blinked her big blue eyes at him and smiled a groggy smile. Tony was here and she was still alive, she would have SHIELD's attention now but that didn't seem to matter.

"Hey," she said weakly.

"Hey," Tony huffed and pulled her top up to inspect the injury. His eyes lingered on her flat stomach for a moment before they flicked back to her face confused.

"How do I look?" Alis asked finding it hard to stop her eyes closing.

"Great," he admitted sounding totally lost and Alis smiled again before falling asleep on the freeway.


	6. Chapter 6

"Tony, Tony."

Tony Stark could feel someone shaking him gently and he lifted his heavy eyelids to see who. The bright sun of a glorious beachside morning stung his sensitive eyes and he scrunched his face up to block it out. These slight movements triggered a headache that crashed over his brain like the waves hitting the rocks outside, forceful and merciless.

"Am I dead?" he groaned sounding a little hopeful.

"No you're late," Pepper corrected and began a very well rehearsed routine.

Tony's back popped and clicked as he slowly sat up and rubbed his unshaven face. Tony opened his sore eyes and saw his living room littered with empty beer bottles and pizza boxes but didn't see any signs of partygoers. He put his hand on the arm of the couch to boost himself up and noticed someone had left a towel there to catch his drool.

"That was Alis," Pepper explained and started unbuttoning his shirt. "You don't have time for a shower, just put these clothes on and splash some water on your face."

"Alis," Tony suddenly remembered why this morning was important and looked around the room for any trace of her. "Have you seen her?"

"Relax," Pepper said as she pushed his arm through the sleeve of a clean shirt. "She's with Happy."

Tony tried to piece together what had happened last night but the headache was making it hard. He was sure that Alis had been only two drinks behind him last night when they had bashed out the agreement terms for the SHIELD meeting. His memory tapped out at around midnight but if he'd drunk enough to be sprawled out on the couch then theoretically she should be in a similar position close by.

Tony knew Pepper was telling the truth but he wasn't going anywhere until he was certain Alis had kept her promise. He walked from the living room tying his tie with Pepper clucking behind him as he opened every door they passed. Alis had promised to stay and work out the SHIELD situation with him but with the kid so scared he wasn't totally trusting of her word.

Tony had programmed JARVIS to stop any attempt made by his guest to leave without his expressed permission but if she could dodge Barton's arrows there was a good chance she could outwit his software.

It had been three days since the hotel incident and Tony was still digesting all the new things he'd learned about the pint sized powerhouse. After getting Alis off the road he had driven straight home because going to the hospital would have been a wasted trip. Hospitals were after all for humans. Once there Alis had slept deeply for nearly twelve hours before waking to devour everything in his vegetable crisper.

By that time Fury had been in touch and was very interested to know how he had managed to cross paths with the subject of a top priority man hunt and cause a spectacular traffic jam broadcast on national news.

After an appropriate amount of banter Tony agreed to meet with the Director but he demanded a couple of days first to feed Alis some positive SHILED promotion. After three months on the run she wasn't about to get coffee with them.

Alis had sat in Tony's kitchen devouring food like it was her last supper wearing one of his tracksuits and explained the miracle on the freeway. She said that she had the ability to heal herself by using an energy that her body generated naturally. The bigger the injury, the more energy required and if she was beyond repair then new cells would be created to replace the damaged ones.

"So you're immortal?" Tony asked in awe with his own food untouched.

"I can die," Alis answered with her mouth full. "If I'm killed before my body has a chance to repair itself or if there's something obstructing the energy like the knife was. It has to be able to flow freely and my heart needs to be beating."

Alis knocked her chest lightly to emphasize her point. "If this stops it all stops."

Tony decided he needed a drink and walked over to the bar to mix one.

"So you're an alien then?" he asked as he put some ice in his glass.

Alis stopped chewing and pondered that for a minute. That word had her thinking of Martians and flying saucers but technically the term was accurate. She was after all from another planet.

"Yeah," she said with an uncertain expression. "Is that ok?"

"Yeah that's cool," Tony said smiling back and finished pouring his scotch. "Is that why you made a break for it? Did you think Fury and his goons were going to throw you on a dissection table and run experiments?"

"No," Alis answered grimly and her appetite disappeared. "I left because of Loki."

She went on to tell him all about what had happened in the records building, how she had blown up a Frost Giant and brawled with the mythical god. Tony laughed out loud when she got to the part with Selvig and the steering lock and gave her a high five for blasting Loki into the staircase.

He noticed how edgy she got when she mentioned the word spelt in soap and realized that Alis was scared of being found, she had something unique and Loki would do anything to get his hands on it.

"So this energy of yours," he moved the subject away from the villainous god. "I saw what you did with Doctor Foster's machine and I know about the healing so what else can it do?"

Alis shrugged at that. "Don't really know. It's raw energy so I guess if I channel it the right way it could do heaps of stuff. We're not really meant to use it for anything other than healing so I haven't exactly run tests."

"We?" Tony asked.

"Well me," Alis corrected quietly and moved the crumbs on her plate around with her fingertip. "There's only me now."

The house fell silent and Tony wasn't sure how badly he had put his foot in it. It was clear by her answer that Alis had no family and being an alien she was far from home. There was no way of telling how old the wounds were, by the way Alis presented herself it seemed she had been on Earth for years but time wasn't always enough to heal.

"I lost my parents when I was young too," he said finally then abandoned the topic.

Tony went on to explain how SHIELD now knew she was with him but he wasn't going to let them cart her off like a criminal. Alis announced she would be leaving in the morning but Tony mixed her a drink and assured her that Fury would have to roll tanks up to the house before he would let them in.

It still took a trip downstairs to the workshop where the suits were showcased to convince her and they agreed to hear Director Fury out. If they didn't like what he was offering, they would walk away. Alis just had to promise to stay put and let him do the talking.

Tony took a left and opened the doors to his gym to see that Alis had kept her end of the bargain. She and Happy were moving in a wide circle in the boxing ring engaging each other every few seconds then pulling apart. The chauffer had swapped his regular suit for sweat gear and was throwing punches at his tiny opponent who nimbly dodged them.

Alis fought bare foot and skipped round the ring lightly staying one step ahead of the former heavy weight champ. She never took her eyes off of Happy as they circled the ring and maintained a strong defensive. Then when she saw an opening Tony's weary eyes missed she slipped in close and struck, throwing a rapid series of punches before retreating.

"That was good," Happy said as he jumped on the spot. "But I want to see you bring that six punch combination up to an eight and stop moving back after you land one. Once you're in close stay there and finish your opponent off."

Alis blew out a big breath and nodded her head. The fact that an overweight retired boxer was giving her such a thrashing had her annoyed. When younger Alis had been a picture of athletic fitness but she had allowed herself to get soft in recent years, growing too complacent in the safety of Earth.

With the threat of those who had hunted her gone she had refocused her priorities on travelling and living comfortably but recent events had reminded her that Darwin's theory was irrefutable. If she wanted to survive she would have to be stronger.

Alis was still faster than most and her muscles remembered movements drilled into her since infancy but her strength and fighter's perception had diminished drastically. Her smarts had conquered the Frost Giants but if she was going to be up against gods and the like she would need those smarts and strength both.

"I need you in your regular costume Happy," Tony interrupted and the fighters turned their attention to the spectators.

"Sure thing boss," he puffed then pointed at Alis. "We'll work on that later deal?"

Alis nodded and shook her arms to release some tension. When Alis had asked Happy to go a round he had agreed to amuse her thinking that she taken a few classes at college. She had surprisingly proved to be quite formidable and Happy had dropped his condescending attitude for a coaching one. He noticed that Alis didn't exactly box though, she fought more like a mixed martial artist and some of her tactics he didn't recognize at all.

"How are you not hung over?" Tony asked jealously as he watched the sweaty girl untie her gloves.

"Perks of being an alien," she joked and slipped between the ropes. "You got a headache?"

"Headache doesn't even begin to describe it," Tony moaned and Pepper rolled her eyes. "I have an acute case of cranial purgatory. My brain is ravaged by a mental fire. Dehydration and alcohol poisoning are raping my mind."

Alis spritely jumped from the ring and landed in front of the complaining genius.

"Shut up a minute," she ordered and reached up to touch his head.

"What?" Tony wasn't known for shutting up when told, even when it was wise to. Like at senate committees.

"Just shut up a minute," Alis repeated and placed her hand gently on his head. "Take a deep breath and try not to think of anything."

"I'll try but since I am a genius I oh," Tony's voice dropped away as he felt something warm start in the back of his head.

It was like anesthetic had been injected directly into his brain and was melting the pain away. He felt all light and floaty like soaking in a warm bath and thought he could stay that way forever, just drifting along in a comfortable haze.

Alis then swore loudly as she snapped her hand away and twirled on the spot holding her head. Tony just stood in a happy daze and watched her throw punches in the air apathetic of her pain and totally unconcerned with anything happening outside of his body.

He felt good, really good. It was like someone had massaged his whole body then wrapped him in fluffy towels to nap in a hot room. Pain was a distant thought, one he could barely remember when he felt so good.

Pepper touched Alis on the arm and asked if she was ok.

"Yeah, yeah it'll go in a minute," Alis answered and pulled her neck from side to side. The hot pins of healing were mixing in her head with Tony's hangover as one tried to erase the other.

Pepper watched as her eyes lost their shape and filled with swirling colours for a few seconds before they settled back into blue. She was still on edge from the attack and exhausted from dodging the media's questions so she tried not to notice the curiosities of Alis' character. It was too much to take on at once and she would sort it out later. Pepper was just grateful that Alis had saved her and hadn't been killed herself which she would explain for now with a miracle.

Tony snapped out of his stupor and smiled at the women broadly. He felt young and confident, prepared to take on the world and couldn't understand why they looked so worried. They should be upbeat and excited, it was a new day with new obstacles to conquer. Maybe he should go for a five mile run and a workout before meeting Fury. And make a huge breakfast with fresh juice and heaps of eggs-like six. Then pull apart his hot rod and put it back together.

Alis saw him smiling and sniggered at the euphoric expression plastered on his face.

"Feel better?" she asked as her own pain began to fade.

"Much!" he responded enthusiastically.

"What did you do to him?" Pepper asked with wide eyes. She had revived Tony from all kinds of hangovers and drug stupors and he had never recovered from any of them this quickly.

"Took his hangover onto myself and healed it," Alis explained. "The connection can cause euphoria sometimes. It'll wear off in a few minutes don't worry, there's no damage done."

"What about to you?" Pepper asked and looked for any hint of harm in Alis' face.

"Nah, that was only small," Alis smiled to assure her. "You can get him going now if you want."

"Right," Pepper jumped in to action as she remembered that they were very late and took Tony by the arm. "Come on Tony, you have that secret meeting I know nothing about to go to."

"Ok!" Tony cried with zeal and shouted to Alis as he let Pepper pull him away. "Don't you worry baby doll I will sort this all out and come right back. Get cleaned up and we will go to lunch when I get back. How about burgers? Oh wait you're vegetarian. We'll get tofu burgers. I know a great place-"

"Tony," Alis cut him off with a smile. "It'll be fine, just go. And Tony-"

"Yeah?" he asked brightly.

"Pants?" she suggested.

Tony looked down to see that he was short a vital garment then looked back at Alis with an amazed expression.

"Good idea!" he yelled joyously and Pepper pulled him from the room mouthing an apology as she went.

Alis waited until they were gone before laughing. Tony was going to feel mighty stupid when the high wore off and Pepper's concern about her seeing him half naked was adorable. Growing up Alis had never once seen her father wear a shirt and when she had arrived in this new world she was surprised by how much humans covered themselves. Misplaced pants weren't enough to phase her.

Still chuckling she hung her gloves over the ring ropes and made her way to the guest room. Riffling through her hiking pack Alis discovered that the ever efficient Pepper had taken most of her clothes to be washed and only found some clean underwear and a singlet to wear. It seemed everyone was short on pants today.

Alis stood under the shower and savored the uninterrupted stream of hot water. Bathing had been a low priority while travelling and the rare times she had been able to they had been cold hasty showers at a caravan park or youth hostel. When the room was steamy Alis turned the water off and dried herself with a fluffy Egyptian cotton towel before styling her curls into the usual sideways ponytail.

Alis had always lived a life of basics and scorned people who put luxuries before necessities but she had to admit that she did enjoy the finer features of Tony's house. She wasn't so sure they made him happy though.

She pulled on her scant outfit and headed downstairs where JARVIS greeted her.

"Good morning," the polite upper cut British voice called from the intercom. "It is ten thirty AM and the weather in Malibu is sunny at a steady twenty two degrees expected to reach twenty-eight degrees by midday. Clear skies are predicted with a cool change before evening."

Alis found JARVIS a little unnerving as he was a voice without a mind so she tried to think of him like a radio with exclusive listeners. She looked out the window expecting to see a glorious ocean view but saw the forecast was wrong.

"JARVIS," Alis called without looking around. "Are you sure about the weather? It doesn't look very promising outside."

"All metrological data is correct," the household computer confirmed.

Outside the window was dark and gloomy without a trace of the promised sunshine. Heavy dark clouds were churning in the sky with rain rolling in from across the ocean. Alis watched the furious waves explode on the rocks sending a thousand droplets high into the air and felt uneasy. She found the water frightening by how it concealed what was beneath and sucked the air from your body as it dragged you under into the darkness.

Alis touched the glass and was soothed knowing there was a shield between her and the ocean. She told herself to stop being silly, water couldn't hurt her, and went to the kitchen to find some breakfast. The workout with Happy had made her hungry and she moved around the kitchen quickly to put two slices of bread in the toaster and find the honey.

Alis opened the refrigerator and had her fingers on the juice bottle when everything changed. She wasn't sure what it was precisely, something as small as an exhaled breath, the click of a boot in stride or the intangible sensation of being observed but suddenly she knew she wasn't alone. And there was only one person with the stealth to move so silently.

"I wish you had called ahead," Alis said conversationally as she closed the fridge door to see the God of Mischief standing there. "I would have dressed for the occasion."

"Oh no," Loki said dismissively with a broad smile. "I like you just as you are."

Alis quickly calculated her position and found she was at a terrible disadvantage. Running would be pointless, an attack expected and pleading to reason laughable. Loki had ensnared her just as she had started taking her safety for granted being so confident in Tony Stark and his security system. Alis had forgotten they were easily overcome by a master of magic.

In a second she raced through her memory to their last encounter and tried to find a clue that could save her. Loki was cruel, vicious, physically superb and had the superior intellect. The whole time they had talked in the records building he had flaunted the brilliance of his sordid plans and had taken great delight in her predicament, stringing her misery out into a spectacle for his entertainment.

Loki liked to be amused.

He casually leant against the refrigerator looking magnificent in his Asgardian attire as he watched Alis with a triumphant expression. Probably pleased with how he had cornered her so easily when the SHIELD plodders couldn't after three months. Alis noticed he was unarmed and wondered why, was he so confident she would yield or did he want the pleasure of killing her with his bare hands?

She tried to listen to his thoughts and heard nothing. Loki emitted no mental signals or emotional vibes like a normal person did. Alis had become accustomed to overhearing every thought and experiencing the emotions of others so to stand before someone totally silent was unnerving. For once she didn't have the unfair advantage of knowing the intention before the action.

Alis rolled her blue eyes at his answer and took the fruit juice over to the bench. "If that's true then you're really getting desperate."

The only chance she had was to stall. A challenge to his strength would be easily thwarted but stimulating his intellect might distract him long enough to escape. Loki loved to talk, especially about himself, so all Alis had to do was think of something he could gloat over. Suddenly she stopped pouring her drink and turned to him with a frown.

"Did you watch me in the shower back in Puente Antiguo?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

Loki smiled playfully and Alis groaned. The first guy to see her naked was a sadistic homicidal maniac. Darcy would probably say that was a good start but Alis didn't see this as a promising beginning to her dating career.

"Don't be embarrassed," Loki cooed as he watched her blush. "It was just a bit of harmless fun."

"I think you have a pretty fucked up idea of what fun is," Alis shot back hotly and mentally checked herself for letting her temper show. If she was going to get out of this alive then she needed to play it cool.

"Now don't be like that Alis," Loki teased. "That is no way to address your god."

Alis' fingers locked so tightly around the glass it nearly split in her hand.

"How do you know my name?" she asked with terror in her voice.

There was something very wrong about how Loki said her name. Her name was something her friends called her, the name her parents had given her and it did not sound the same in his voice. There was no fondness of amicability to be heard in his tone. Loki said it like it was something he wanted.

"That's what I heard Selvig call you the last we met," Loki explained simply. "I'm so glad I got it right. I had such a frightful headache afterwards I was worried I had misheard. I assume you know my name by now?"

"Oh yes" Alis collected herself and spoke calmly. "You are quite the hot topic at SHIELD I assure you."

Alis jumped as the toaster popped behind her then turned away quickly to grab the toast. Loki's smiled broadened as he watched her make the effort to act untroubled as she spread honey over the toast. This part was always fun, waiting to see how long it would take until the confident façade fell away. There was an even chance that the victim would swing into either hysteria or blind rage and it was always interesting to see which one would win out.

"Do you mind if I eat this while you're making up your mind?" Alis asked as she scraped the last morsel of honey from the empty jar. "This honey is organic."

"Making up my mind about what?" Loki asked curiously.

"How you're going to kill me," Alis answered lightly as if she's asked if he would prefer tea or coffee.

"I'm going to kill you?" he asked loving every second of this game.

"That's my assumption," Alis took a bite of her toast to show she wasn't afraid even though she was terrified at the core.

"I'm not here to kill you," he said sounding somewhat disappointed by her theory and straightened up. He had believed her smarter than the idiotic mortals but here she was jumping to conclusions. "I came to talk."

"I find that pretty spurious Loki," Alis said dully and wrote 'honey' on the shopping list Pepper had left half finished on the bench. "You don't make social calls."

Loki followed the biro being placed back on the counter and noticed the large breadknife resting next to it. In this room he had counted six different things she could use as a weapon and wondered if she had found as many. He remembered how she had thrown a lamp at the Frost Giant showing that she could adapt to her surroundings and use them against a foe.

He was excited to see how she would fight him this time, he was certain she would fight. She was a survivor and they always fought.

"I wanted to talk about the book you recommended," he went on watching her expression closely.

Alis wondered frantically what he could possibly be talking about. She didn't recall having a book club that frosty night, it had been a clash of egos with threats and frightening promises being thrown around the room. She had vowed to punish him for hurting the innocent and had unleashed her power after criticizing his plans.

"Oh right!" she suddenly remembered and jabbed her toast in his direction in emphasis. "Machiavelli's The Prince. What did you think?"

"Quite insightful and very well composed especially when you consider the author was human," Loki stroked his chin thoughtfully as he evaluated the text. "He certainly knew to respect the status of a king over his people but I would have executed him for daring to instruct his monarch."

"And what did you think of his conclusion?" Alis asked. Her tone was less playful now, more serious and challenging.

"That it is far better to be feared than loved," Loki quoted the famous words theatrically then gave Alis an evil grin. "Completely true."

"I thought that would appeal to you," she said with a false smile.

"You don't agree? For someone who ruthlessly killed two Frost Giants that's quite a compassionate outlook."

Alis lost her shield of disrespectful jesting and the look she gave Loki was malevolent. The blue in her eyes froze and her lip lifted to show an incisor tooth like an animal snarling. Her skin rippled as her muscles tightened and she could hear a growl in her throat when she took a breath in. Loki thought she would love nothing more than to tear his throat open with her teeth and hoped she might try. He would like to see her loose herself to an animalistic rage like when she had struck him.

"I didn't kill them because I enjoyed it," Alis forced the snarl off her face by making her more refined characteristic suppress the primitive ones. "They took the lives of the innocent so I took theirs' as payment."

Loki's mouth moved with annoyance at her answer. He didn't want to hear a poised unemotional answer to his antagonizing, he wanted to see her break free of this passive human guise and reveal her true form. It was disappointing to have found the possible last of the Mirada had assimilated to another race. The pathetic human race at that.

Those few seconds of feral hatred a moment ago had shown promise and Loki could tell that her true nature was close to resurfacing. He just had to hit the right trigger.

"Life for life. Death for death. The scales must balance," Loki recited the words Alis hadn't heard in a very long time. "Those are the Mirada words aren't they? You must preserve an equal and impartial justice by punishing those who have offended and rewarding the honourable."

Alis went cold all over. What Loki had said was secret and sacred, not something he could have found by study. Those words had never been written so she wondered where he had gone to hear them and who he had tortured into saying it. Those words had been passed down to her from generations before her and had not been uttered in the presence of other species. They were almost lost now, gone with the rest of her kind.

"Don't you talk about it," she growled dangerously. "You know nothing about it."

He moved quicker than she thought he could. One second he was standing across the room and the next he was towering over her, his hands flat on the bench either side and their faces almost touching.

The plate Alis had been holding shattered on the tiles but she managed to keep her expression firm. His strength and skill might insight fear but the atrocity he had committed in Puente Antiguo and her resentment of his perniciousness kept her courage intact. She would not deign so far as to fear a common murderer deluded about his regal rights.

"Actually I know more than most," Loki's voice remained calm but he was done playing. "Fury and all his men couldn't piece you together and my idiot brother hasn't a clue. I see that preening egotist Stark has taken you as his pet but you haven't told him everything either."

"Stop it!" Alis turned away because she detested the way he was looking at her. He had the same look the avaricious got when they saw an opportunity they could exploit.

"You wont tell them will you? You don't trust them, you shouldn't. They can't possibly understand like I do," Loki ran his fingertips down her cheek and she slapped them away.

"You don't understand anything!" Alis spat. "You just spout baseless philosophy to sound omniscient and dazzle the ignorant with magic tricks. I see what you are."

"And I see what you are!" he snapped back so viciously Alis flinched as if she had been bitten. "The lost child of murdered family, the last of your line searching for a new purpose in a foreign land. A lonely soul trying to make a new family with mortals who are a poor substitution for those you have lost, knowing the whole time that they can never offer you enough so you convince yourself you're content with their meager offerings. You've been hiding behind this veil of humanity for so long you have lost sight of what you really are. Of what you ought to be and what you can become if you allow me to rule you."

Alis' heart was beating so loudly now she was certain he must hear it. She cowered under Loki as he blocked everything around them out with his larger shape and dominating stance. Everything about him Alis found repellant but he spoke with such zealotry and intimacy she was locked in place. It was like he had his hand around her heart and would tear it from her chest if she dared move away.

She knew she would never kneel before him the way he desired, she would face death before helping this monster, but she didn't know how to escape his grasp. He was just as likely to kill her as he was kiss her and with no telepathy Alis had to wait for whatever came next and play along with it. Once wrong move here and it could all end badly.

"You must be so tired of this," Loki lifted his left hand to her face and ran his thumb over her high cheekbone tenderly. "Pretending to be less than you are to appease these lowly creatures. Commit yourself to my vision for a new world and you will have anything you desire."

Alis lent her head into his hand and Loki guided her to his chest, holding her close like a lover. She let out a heavy breath as she closed her eyes and Loki knew she was crumbling. She was done supporting humanity who had never accepted her and ready to embrace her position as a higher being.

"What I want is gone from the world forever," he heard her say quietly.

"Your gods ignored you. Worship me and I'll deny you nothing," Loki promised and lifted her chin to look into her large eyes.

"The gods did hear me. Their answer was no."

Loki saw the flicker of anger beneath her performed submission and slammed his hand down on the bread knife before she could grab it. A second later there was a sharp pain in his hand and Alis slammed a knee into his thigh that unbalanced him and he fell to the floor. Alis jumped out of reach and Loki was on his feet a second later. He followed her to the pantry and the last thing he saw was a flash of red before Alis fired the fire extinguisher in his face.

Loki yelled with more surprise than pain as the cold cloud of chemicals sprayed him directly in the eyes before Alis slammed the canister into his forehead. He landed flat on his back and felt her heel slide against his side as she jumped over him and ran for cover.

The kitchen was silent as Loki was left lying there alone and he slowly sat up to rub the white sludge off his face. The chemicals didn't harm him since his superior genetics countered their weak effects but Alis had succeeded in impairing him just long enough to escape.

Loki knew he should have not of thought it would be that easy to tempt her to his side and should be annoyed at being attacked so crudely but he didn't. He was too impressed. Alis was just as clever as he had thought and certainly a survivor. This would make the capture all the more satisfying.

His hand still hurt and he saw the pen Alis had used to write on the shopping list was now lodged deeply in the flesh between his index and middle finger.

'_You are so sly,'_ there was a squelching noise as Loki pulled the biro out of his hand slowly. He smiled at the bloodied pen then looked at the breadknife still lying untouched by the loaf. _'But so am I.' _

Alis jumped the last staircase to the basement and launched herself into the workshop by swinging on the bottom banister. Her bare feet crossed the threshold and she punched the numbers Tony had her memorize into the control panel.

"Emergency protocols activated," JARVIS said and the glass door snapped shut as an alarm started to sound upstairs. "Mr Stark has been alerted. Please remain in a safe place and take proper precautions until further instructed."

There was a heavy clicking noise as a series of sophisticated locks fell into place and the roller door by the hot rods hit the concrete floor with a clatter. The artificial light in the ceiling turned to red and dimmed, rising and fading with the sound of the alarm. No doubt Tony had thought it would add some extra drama when he designed it but it only made Alis panic more.

Red made her think of blood.

Knowing that Loki wouldn't take long to find her she ran to the closest luxury car and crouched behind it trying to think of a plan. Iron Man might be only minutes away but Alis was aware she may have less time than that. She shot a glance at the suits in their glass cases and felt bitter, she had depended on them for protection and they had turned out to be useless.

You can't survive if you depend on the assistance of others.

Loki descended the stairs with the air of one going to the wine cellar. He saw the glass door locked tight and smirked at the feeble fortress. Waving his hand gracefully like a magician his scepter materialized in the air and he took a firm hold of it before halting at the door. His green eyes scanned the room for any movement or snare his prey may have set for.

He hadn't enjoyed himself this much in a long time.

"That was unkind Alis," he admonished in an eerie voice. "I offered you everything and you snapped at me like a common cur. Your sentiment for these mortals is holding you back. You could be so much more."

Alis braved a peek from her hiding place and saw the glow of the weapon's jewel. She cursed and forced herself to think faster. She had to fight and needed to be smart about it because that was the only way she might win.

"_Spear, long range, need to get close,"_ her thinking was fractured by panic. _"He doesn't want me close, bad at close combat, need to lose the spear. Too strong, can't force, need something." _

Tony had various tools scattered on the floor around the dismantled car, half of which Alis didn't recognize. She surveyed the possibilities and limited her choices to those she could reach from her hiding spot before dragging a coil of rope closer with her foot and opened a tool box. If this plan was going to succeed then it would have to be a surprise attack.

"I wanted you to come willingly Alis," Loki called out. "But I will take you fighting if I have to." Loki pulled his arm back focusing on a spot in the glass then whispered to himself.

"I like it better this way."

The bulletproof glass shattered like thin ice when the sharp tip connected and the shards crunched under Loki's boot as he stepped over the doorframe into the workshop. The dim red light made shadows that danced across the room and he looked around slowly searching for any sign of his prize.

A faint whirling noise snapped his head left a second before something flew out of the darkness and coiled around his scepter. Then with a metallic clink as something snagged on the curve of the blade and it was yanked from his grasp. Loki reached into the air and closed an empty hand as his weapon flew across the room before it landed on the ground with a clatter and was dragged into Alis' reach.

Through the darkness Loki saw Alis grab the scepter by the base then spin it across the floor until it stopped with a thud under a tool cabinet. A second later she threw aside the rope she'd anchored with a large hexagon nut then charged at him.

Alis swung her arm wide when she was a step away with a screwdriver in hand and cut through a cloud of unnatural green light. She nearly tripped but managed to stumble forward and twirl around just in time to block Loki's arm. She twisted his wrist to make him drop the tiny throwing knife he was holding then stabbed him in three places along his arm.

He yelled as the screwdriver pierced his flesh but punched Alis in the chest with his other hand before she could bury the tool in his throat. He dropped forward to pin her down but she rolled back onto her shoulder blades and kicked him square in the chest. Loki managed to maintain balance and only staggered back a few paces before Alis rolled around and stabbed him in the back of knee.

He screamed with rage and agony and his kick only missed her head by inches. Alis rolled out of range and sprung to her feet. Her wrist ached as she clutched her improvised weapon as the thick leather of Loki's garments was hard to pierce. She couldn't see the blood on the metal spike because of the light but she knew his screams were genuine.

Suddenly she was screaming herself as her wrist spilt open from a flying blade. Her fingers lost their grip on the screwdriver and the orange light shone like a beacon through the red glow. Alis vaulted over the workbench behind her in retreat but Loki was faster.

He met her on the other side and grabbed her by the shoulders to slam her into the wall. A fan painting of Iron Man fell off the wall and smashed as her head bounced from the impact. She heard Loki growl angrily and she groped around the counter for a reachable weapon.

Alis closed her hand on something and swung it hard into his skull where it exploded and they were both saturated in the stench of ten year old scotch. Loki yelled again as the glass from the broken decanter cut his face and the liquor stung his eye.

Not wasting the distraction Alis lent into his grip and locked her knees around his waist before head butting him hard. They fell together and Alis wrestled with him until she was on his back, her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms locked around his neck. She pulled his neck violently from side to side trying to snap it but only made him gargle. She tried to remember how to do it right when Loki pried her arm loose and with his superlative strength pulled her over him with one swing.

Before she could get up she felt his fingers run through her hair and she was jerked forward a second before Loki slammed her head into the cement floor. He heard a crunching sound as her skull split and exhaled excitedly. Alis' feet kicked the air in spasm and her body twitched as her nerves fired then stopped moving.

Loki puffed as he crouched beside her, blonde strands still entwined in his long fingers. He pulled his hand out of her hair and moved her head to look into her eyes. The blue orbs were vacant now but when she had aimed the screwdriver at his neck he'd seen that look of animalistic hatred he coveted. She had put everything she had into the fight because she wanted to kill him so badly. As much as he enjoyed her intellectual side this was what had captured his fascination in Puente Antiguo.

Loki was a veteran of battle even if he was not the warrior his brother was and he knew what drove Alis to attack was more than battlefield frenzy. There was something furious raging inside her scratching to be unleashed, something that had been planted long ago which she had tried to uproot but could never kill.

Was it just desperation to survive when she had seen so many others die or was it longing for revenge? She hid it well under her compassion and good humour but Loki knew that with enough push she could destroy remorselessly. Like the Frost Giant she had burned alive.

An orange light started to glow in her ear and Loki quickly retrieved his spear, lifting the tool cabinet as effortlessly as it were a cushion. He then settled himself over Alis sitting on her hips to see her magic perform.

Loki watched intensely as her eyes filled with colours and glittering lights and her skin warmed from the inside. He touched her head lightly and felt a euphoric sensation race up his arm that made him gasp with delight.

The bloody holes in his arm disappeared and he saw identical wounds appear on Alis' pale arm before healing without a mark.

"Now that is fascinating," he spoke quietly so not to break the awed hush. "The humans look to the stars to find wonders but don't see the one walking amongst them."

Loki felt her move underneath him as she started to rouse and looked back at her face. Alis blinked rapidly and made a whimpering noise as her cognition returned but her emotions overruled her thinking for a minute. She was scared and wanted someone to tell her it was ok but she didn't have anyone anymore. There was nobody left who loved her and she would not be saved.

She became aware of the weight on top of her and remembered everything in a rush.

"Get off me!" she bellowed and tried to channel some energy into her hand.

Loki caught her hand in his and forced their fingers to entwine locking their palms together. Before she could lift her other hand he moved his foot onto her wrist and twisted the muscle in her arm painfully as his boot ground it into the floor.

Alis tried to muster the energy to attack but her body couldn't supply it. She had been wounded too badly too recently to use any surplus power as a weapon. What her body wanted was rest and food, too exhausted to act on the messages the adrenaline was sending about the imminent danger.

"I have enjoyed this," Loki told her honestly as she struggled underneath him. "But I'm done flirting. Accept me as your god now."

"I won't ever agree," she vowed through gritted teeth.

"I think I can convince you," Loki said with a wicked smile and lifted his spear to her heart.

Alis gasped as the blade pricked her above the right breast and could feel something slither through her as the jewel shone brighter. An icy feeling spread along her veins like a lethal injection and she could feel all her senses dulling, her limbs didn't feel attached anymore, like they were now someone else's. There was something in the back of her brain reaching in and trying to remove her from her own body and she attempted to raise a mental barrier uselessly.

"Let it go," Loki's voice sounded a mile away. "Be mine."

Her eyes went black and the invading force knocked down the last of her weak defenses. Alis knew then that it would win and had to accept defeat. Her body was about to be enslaved and her spirit crushed, maybe even destroyed.

'_Eveey,'_ with the last of her free will she thought of the one she had loved the most.

She remembered the softness of the little girl's chubby arms as they circled her neck and how her hair tickled her face when she snuggled under Alis' chin. It was so long along but Alis could remember every detail vividly, you can never forget someone you truly loved.

This was something Loki would never take from her, he could have her body but her soul would stay with Eveey.

Alis could feel herself going now. The power of Loki's magic was erasing any independent though she had, her entire self was refocused on obeying him now. She would serve him with complete loyalty and sacrifice her life if he asked. What she wanted now was irrelevant, there was only Loki now and his will.

Alis of the Mirada was gone. Alis belonged to Loki.

Suddenly the crippling feeling was flushed from her body so violently it was like steam blowing out a boiler. Her body rejected the magic smothering her system and shot it straight back into the scepter. Alis lurched forward as an invisible force like a pressure wave formed above her and hurled Loki across the workshop with his damaged weapon sparking.

Alis heard a tremendous crash as she coughed and gasped for air like one released from a chokehold. She rolled onto her hands and knees and spat on the concrete floor trying to rid the horrid taste from her mouth. It was like waking with a violent hangover, her mobility nearly destroyed and her vision jumping as she crawled towards what she hoped was safety.

There was a tremendous boom from above and Alis curled into a ball covering her head with her hands like an air raid survivor. A shower of plaster and lighting fragments fell over her in a white cloud and she squeezed her eyes shut tight.

When the dust settled she braved a peek and screamed at the glowing eyes watching her through the swirl of dust before recognizing the famous armored suit.

"Over there!" she yelled pointing at the roller door which now had a jagged hole in the centre.

Iron Man was across the workshop in a second and ripped the roller door back like opening a tin of tuna. His gauntlet charged ready to fire but he found no target.

Inside his helmet Tony read the data on screen that confirmed there was no presence of anyone hiding in his garage. He ordered JARVIS to scan again as the unexpected storm outside had been interfering with his network but the computer delivered the same results.

The suit made a humming sound as it powered down and Tony turned to see Nick Fury helping Alis out of the room while his SHIELD footmen began to canvass the area. He had been gone less than an hour and Loki had already come close to killing Alis again.

Loki knew he could get through his defenses, get to Alis, and he was going to try again. Of that he was certain.


End file.
